All in Writing
by sayrae3times
Summary: Even hunters are bound to leave a paper trail. Story told completely in "writing" and mostly Outsider POVs.
1. Wednesday, July 4

_A/N: Disclaimer - __Supernatural__ and its characters are a copyright of Eric Kripke and Warner Bros. Sniffle. If they were mine, Castiel would read me bedtime stories every night. Just saying._

* * *

><p><strong>All in Writing<strong>

_Summary: Even hunters are bound to leave a "paper trail"._

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 1 - <strong>_Wednesday, July 4, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, MICHAEL SAMPSON to BOBBY SINGER, opened at 11:58 AM<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** msampson

**To:** singersalvageyard

**Sent:** Wednesday, July 04, 2007 3:00 AM

**Subject:** Please read

Dear Mr. Singer,

You probably don't remember me. My name is Mike Sampson. I met you and John back in 98 while you were working the Quentin case here in Little Rock. I'm sorry to bother you, but you gave me this address and told me that I could contact you if I ever needed any more help. Look, I still don't fully understand what happened back then, or how you got rid of our "problem" the first time, but I don't know who else to contact who won't think I'm crazy. What I'm trying to say is, I think it's back.

I'm attaching a newspaper article. Please read it and call me if you think it's worth looking into. My number is 501.555.5423.

Thank you,

Mike

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, BOBBY SINGER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 12:34 PM**_

Where you boys at

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to BOBBY SINGER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 12:55 PM**_

Portland. Why?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, BOBBY SINGER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:01 PM**_

Call me

* * *

><p><strong>NOTES, taken by SAM WINCHESTER during phone conversation with BOBBY SINGER<strong>

_**(Scribbled on the back of a TEXACO receipt)**_

_Little Rock, AR_

_Jody Murrow - missing since 6/28_

_-check journal_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:33 PM**_

Get your ass back here. Bobby's got a job for us.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:45 PM**_

shup up bitch. what kind of job

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:48 PM**_

Learn to spell, jerk. Took some notes but Bobby's emailing me details. When will you get here?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:51 PM**_

just finishing up. hour maybe

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 1:53 PM**_

K

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, BOBBY SINGER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** singersalvageyard

**To:** sam

**Sent:** Wednesday, July 04, 2007 3:08 PM

**Subject:** SEARCH BEGINS FOR MISSING LOCAL WOMAN

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

The Little Rock Capital Journal

NEWS

SEARCH BEGINS FOR MISSING LOCAL WOMAN

By Lindsey Wallace

Published: June 30, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, AR – Little Rock authorities say they are beginning to pursue the mysterious disappearance of a local preschool teacher.

The family of 26-year old Jody Murrow has offered a reward for any information regarding her disappearance. There are no reports of Murrow being seen since June 28th, the night of her wedding.

Little Rock Police Chief Greg Eddison says it appears that Murrow was abducted from her home near the Arkansas River.

* * *

><p><strong>NOTE, from SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**(Written on THE MOUNTAINSIDE INN stationary)**_

_D –_

_Check out dad's journal when you get in. Bobby said he and dad looked into it a few years ago. I made it easy on you and marked the page. Make yourself useful and see what you think._

_Be back with food._

* * *

><p><strong>JOHN WINCHESTER'S Journal<strong>

_**(Handwritten notes)**_

_Little Rock, AR_

_Tarrah Quentin - 1998 - Beat and strangled, unmarried - Body found by Arkansas River_

_Francene Langdon (Landon?) - 1952 - Cause of death unknown, suspect strangulation – _

_Body found by Arkansas River_

_Gabrielle McDaniel- 1949 1950 - Missing - Body not found_

_Patrice Claude - 1874 - Cause of death unknown - Body found in Arkansas River_

_Nell Spotsgood – 1869 - Strangled by husband - Farm burnt to ground_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 4:45 PM**_

i think bobbys onto something. theres def a pattern. well head out tomorrow. bring chinese.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 4:49 PM**_

How bout BK?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 4 2007 4:55 PM**_

only if theres pie

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, SAM WINCHESTER to BOBBY SINGER<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** sam

**To:** singersalvage yard

**Sent:** Wednesday, July 04, 2007 5:31 PM

**Subject:** Re: SEARCH BEGINS FOR MISSING LOCAL WOMAN

Thanks Bobby. We'll look into it. If you find anything else, let us know.

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Wednesday, July 04, 2007 6:28 PM

**Subject:** First night

Ma,

I'm officially moved in! Dad just left with the van so it's just me and Gypsy now. Well, me and Gypsy and about 50 unpacked boxes, one of which has Gyp's litterbox in it. She's glaring at me as we speak, no doubt trying to make me feel guilty for digging out my laptop before getting to her. I'll have to find it before I go into town later. I'm gonna pick up a paper and see if there's any jobs in town. Dad thought he saw an article in today's from a nearby preschool that just lost a teacher and is looking to hire. Sounds right up my alley.

I miss you already. I know you didn't necessarily agree with my decision to move out here, but I really think it was for the best. And Little Rock isn't that far. I'll come back and visit every chance I get. You know, this fresh start stuff is kind of exciting once you get past…well, everything. New place, new city, new job, new life. Not to mention nobody knows me. I think it's good for me to get away after what happened. Lot's of people do it. It's all about attitude, I guess. Can't go forward if you keep looking back and all that jazz.

I love you and I promise I'll write as much as I can.

Love,

Renee

P.S. Happy 4th! I hope Jen and the kids didn't burn the house down, lol!


	2. Thursday, July 5

_A/N: Short and possibly boring (but necessary) chapter today since our boys are "traveling". Also, I want to apologize ahead of time for the receipt format you'll see below. Fanfic will not allow me to post the original way it was written, which is to look like an actual receipt. _

* * *

><p><strong>Day 2 - <strong>_Thursday, July 5, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>RECEIPT, paid via Credit Card issued to DEAN S. VAI<strong>

_**(Pit stop in Boise, ID en route to Little Rock, AR)**_

Lawell's General Store # 2534

335 Main St.

Boise, ID 3:00 PM

Register #1

7/5/07

Reg:1 Cashier: CHERIE

Receipt 1250176

Type SALE

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Pringles BBQ Super S...2.59

Unleaded Fuel...34.01

Pump: 1

Gallons:...12.238

Price / Gal:...2.779

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

SubTotal...36.60

State Tax...0.14

County Tax...0.03

Local/City Tax...0.05

Total...36.82

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Received

Credit 36.82

ACC XXXXXXXXXXXX5149 SWIPED

Approved 570754578

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Thursday, July 05, 2007 5:36 PM

**Subject:** I got an interview!

Hey Ma!

I called that school today and got an interview scheduled for tomorrow! They've got a couple positions available - two teacher openings and one office aide. I think I'll go for the teacher spot. I don't think I could sit in front of a computer all day long if my life depended on it.

I drove around a little this morning. Little Rock isn't home, but it seems okay from everything I've seen. Downtown is pretty, but I think I'm going to like living outside the city better. I like my apartment and I think it's a good location, plus the hospital is nearby for when I'll need it. Oh, there I go, tearing up again. I'm gonna go feed Gyp. I'll write tomorrow after my interview.

Love you!

Renee

* * *

><p><strong> RECEIPT, paid in CASH<strong>

_**(Pit stop in Ogden, UT en route to Little Rock, AR)**_

CICI'S DINER #478

I-84 E., Ogden, UT

(208) 555 – 4930

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

DATE 07/05/07 MON

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ADULT BUFFET (2) $9.98

ADULT DRINK (2) $2.98

TAX AMT 1 $1.04

TOTAL $14.00

CASH $20.00

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CHANGE $6.00

FRESH TASTE GREAT PRICE

COME AGAIN SOON!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

TIME 03:25 NO.16844B


	3. Friday, July 6

**Day 3 – **_Friday, July 6, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary<strong>

_July 6th, 2007_

_Dear Diary,_

_Finally! A moment to sit down and just breathe! I tell you, naptime couldn't have come any quicker today. The kids haven't been bad, but I've just got so much on my mind today that it's hard for me to really focus on them. I've been trying to act happy and cheerful, but my mood must be showing through because I was sitting on the floor during recess when Jakoby came up to me and asked, "Are you okay, Ms. Colleen?"_

_I didn't really know what to tell him – how do you explain "worried sick" to a 3 year old? - so I gave him the condensed version and answered, "I'm just not feeling too well today, buddy. I'm all right." _

_So he gave me a big hug, plopped himself in my lap and asked me, "Do you want your mommy?" I told him that no, I didn't live with my mommy anymore, so he then asks, "Do you want Mr. Brendan?"_

_Even "not feeling well" I couldn't resist smiling at that one!_

_I'm just so worried about Jody. Still no word from her, and everybody's starting to expect the worst. There was another article about her in the paper a couple days ago. Brendan cut it out and left it on the table for me this morning. It's awful. Nobody's seen or heard from her since she left Tyler at the altar. _

_I can't help but feeling a little sad. And maybe a little scared. Could something really have happened to her? I know everybody thinks she just got cold feet and ran off, but I can't imagine her just up and leaving without even telling her family. And she was so excited about getting married. It was all she talked about!_

_I guess they filled her spot in the P2 room. Kathie probably fired her when she didn't show up for work. Rachelle's going to be cleaning out her room today. Wonder what they're going to do with all her stuff. It just doesn't make any sense to me - she left everything! Even her laptop!_

_The new girl, Renee, I think it is, is going to be starting in her room tomorrow. Rachelle brought her in to introduce us. She looks really nice, and she's got teaching experience already so she shouldn't need much training. She looks about my age. She said she wasn't from around here and that she just moved in to the apartments on Shiloh. I hope she likes it. _

_Uh oh, Jordan just woke up. Time go be teacher._

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Friday, July 6, 2007 3:24 PM

**Subject:** Good news!

You wouldn't believe my luck, ma! I got the job! I start Monday in the P2 (Preschool Level 2) Classroom at the ABC Academy and Learning Center!

Wow! Going from interview to work in just a couple days! Things are really starting to look up! I have to admit, I was surprised to be hired on so quickly, but I think they're a little desperate. According to Kathie, the Director, they just lost two teachers this last month. One disappeared – sounds awful I know – but she was about to get married and Kathie thinks she got cold feet and skipped town. The other quit, but Kathie wouldn't go into why.

Anyway, the pay is a little less than I was hoping for, but it'll go up after 90 days. They even agreed to give me the time off I'm going to need next year.

It was a full day. Rachelle, the Assistant Director, gave me a tour of the place. It's pretty small – a two story building, 4 classrooms on each floor, and a cafeteria in the basement. I also got to meet the janitor – Marco or Mike or something like that, I can't remember his name – and Colleen, the teacher who will be right across the hall from me.

Well, I better go and get started on my paperwork. They're letting me jump through a few hoops to get me started so quickly. I've got a lot of forms to fill out tonight, plus an entire teacher handbook to read, and I don't even want to get into the shots I have get. Good thing I've already found another doctor here.

Write soon!

Renee

* * *

><p><strong>RECEIPT, paid via Credit Card issued to SAMUEL L. WHEELER<strong>

**_(Pit stop in Denver, CO en route to Little Rock, AR)_**

John's Food Mart

5614 South I-70 E.

Denver, CO

(303) 555-2774

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

JOHN'S L320826387001

07/6/07 5:01:58 PM

Register: 1 Trans #: 3034 Op ID: 12

Your cashier: Shift

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Deli turk sand 2... $9.64 99

Subtotal ... = $9.64

Tax... = $0.00

Total... = $9.64

Change Due... = $0.00

Credit... $9.64

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

XXXX XXXX XXXX 6626, Master

Wheeler, Samuel

INVOICE 0165479

AUTH 110234

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sequence Number 112710

APPROVED 4472

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I agree to pay the above total amount according

to the card issuer agreement.

Thank You!


	4. Saturday, July 7

**DAY 4 – **_Saturday July 7, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>MOTEL RECEIPT, deposit paid via Credit Card issued to DEAN S. VAI <strong>

_**(Indicates arrival in Little Rock, AR)**_

Rock Ranch Motel

Little Rock, AR

WELCOME

Dear Mr. Vai

Thank you for your reservation at the Rock Ranch Motel.

We hope you enjoy your stay while in Little Rock.

Paul Price

General Manager

**Guest info Credit Card Info**

Dean Vai Card Type: Visa

Email: n/a Card Number: ************5149

Phone: 501-555-2142 Exp date: 11/08

21426 Spindlewood Rd Card Holder: Dean S. Vai

Chillicothe, OH

UNITED STATES

**Reservation Info**

Confirmation Number: 115456556

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Adults: 2

Number of Children: 0

Room Type: Double Queen

Check In: SAT Jul 7 07 12:11 A.M.

Check Out: TBD

Total Stay: TBD

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to BOBBY SINGER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 11:29 AM**_

We're checked in. Email me what you've got when you have a minute.

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, BOBBY SINGER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** singersalvageyard

**To:** sam

**Sent:** Saturday, July 7, 2007 1:38 PM

**Subject:**

Look into that local Preschool - the ABC Academy. All 5 of the vics worked there. 3 were teachers, 1 janitor, 1 nurse. We figured the first go-round it was a vengeful spirit and torched remains of Nell Spotsgood. Start with her. Don't have much more than that – job was supposed to be over and the spook was supposed to be gone.

* * *

><p><strong>NOTE, from SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

**Sometime around 2:00 PM, July 7th**

_**(Written on The Rock Ranch Motel stationary)**_

_D –_

_Gone to the library. Took the car. Text me when you decide to get up. _

* * *

><p><strong>HISTORICAL RECORDS, found by SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

Little Rock Historical Society

_Remember our Past…_

_Live our Future…_

**Overview**

Built in the 1830s, the one-room schoolhouse in the foothills of the Ozark Plateau was deeded to the public school system in 1871 and has been used for educational purposes continuously up to the present day.

**Detailed History**

In 1823, Edgar Westbury purchased 240 acres of land on the bank of the Arkansas River. His parents had come from London, England in 1712. A blacksmith, Edgar cleared the land for farming and constructed a rough log homestead "on high ground". Happily, "The Rock" had been established as a town near the site in 1820. The property remained in the Westbury family until 1839.

The Westburys were faithful members of Buckingham Friends Meeting, and were aware of the need for schooling of their children and other families. Thus, Edgar sold a lot of an acre to the meeting in 1825 for 10 shillings. Thereon was built a one-room stone schoolhouse, called West Hill.

The original school building of fieldstone was 25 by 35 feet, had a slate-shingled roof, with exposed rafter ends, and a stone chimney. There was an attic and a cellar, and outhouses nearby. Water was carried by the older male students from a house next door. There was a wood-burning stove on a stone slab in the middle of the little room and a bucket with a ladle was kept in the back. The teacher's desk was on a platform in front and there were rows of wooden benches for the scholars, with double desks.

**The West Hill Tragedy**

The schoolhouse was partially rebuilt in 1833 and again in 1870, the latter due to fire set by the residing headmaster, William Thomas Spotsgood. Spotsgood had presided over West Hill for a little over 6 years. The morning of August 3, 1869, a fight broke out between Spotsgood and his wife, Nell Louise Spotsgood. It was rumored that Spotsgood had been hiding a mistress and when his wife discovered his secret, she smothered their only child, William Thomas Spotsgood Jr., then set their farm ablaze. All three bodies were found in the cellar of the schoolhouse after that building had also been set afire, presumably by Spotswood in an effort to commit suicide after strangling his wife in retaliation for their son's death.

West Hill remained vacant until 1870 when it was rebuilt by the public school system and expanded into a two-story establishment. Up until the 1920s, students in grades 1 - 8 attended. Then, from the late 20s through the 50s, students in grades 1 - 3 were taught there, one teacher for all grades.

In more recent years, after a second fire almost demolished the site in 1973, the school district used it for their Historical Society's office and school library, then later for special education classes. It now houses the ABC Academy and Learning Center for grades Pre - K.

_(Excerpted from writings by Ted Ministrom)_

* * *

><p><strong>JOHN WINCHESTER'S Journal<strong>

_**(Handwritten notes – additional notes made by SAM WINCHESTER)**_

_Little Rock, AR_

_Tarrah Quentin - 1998 - Beat and strangled, unmarried - Body found by Arkansas River_

_-**Janitor/LR Historical Soc. – no remains – cremated**_

_Francene Langdon (Landon?) - 1952 - Cause of death unknown, suspect strangulation - Body found by Arkansas River_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – buried in Southtown, NC**_

_Gabrielle McDaniel- 1949 1950 - Missing - Body not found_

_**-Nurse/West Hill**_

_Patrice Claude - 1874 - Cause of death unknown - Body found in Arkansas River_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – buried in St. Francis Cemetery**_

_Nell Spotsgood – 1869 - Strangled by husband - Farm burnt to ground_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – no remains**_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:12 PM**_

im up

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:15 PM**_

Have a nice nap, princess?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:20 PM**_

shut up bitch. you drive all nite next time. find anything?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:24 PM**_

Bad news. Most likely suspect – Nell Spotsgood – no remains. Dad and Bobby got her the first time. We need to take a look at that school.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:27 PM**_

you thinking they missed something?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 2007 3:30 PM**_

It's possible. She might have been scared off when they torched her, but if she's back that means she's tied to something else. Any ideas how we can get in that school?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 3:32 PM**_

one. i'll c if i can grab yesterdays paper

* * *

><p><strong>NEWSPAPER ARTICLE<strong>

The Little Rock Capital Journal, July 7th, 2007

CLASSIFIEDS

_**(Circled in red ink)**_

EDUCATION – 0246

Position: Preschool Teacher Aide (1) Assistant Office Administrator (1)

Company: ABC Academy and Learning Center

Location: 6709 SE Norborough Ct.

Job Status: Full time

Salary: Not specified

Ad Expires: Not specified

Job ID: 6543407

Description: ABC Academy and Learning Center, private school and daycare, seeking capable staff. Needed from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, M-F. Aide must have at least two years teaching experience and be able to pass criminal background check. Candidates must: have High School Education; Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education preferred, but not necessary. Will train.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 4:12 PM**_

I got your message. Are you serious?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 4:15 PM**_

You got any better ideas?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 4:16 PM**_

Not really

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 4:19 PM**_

thats what i thought. and i got an address for the murrows. pick me up and we'll head over there

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 7 2007 4:21 AM**_

Might be a good idea to stop at the police station, too. Be there in 10.

* * *

><p><strong>MESSAGE, from Secretary LISA SORCH to Chief GREG EDDISON, Little Rock PD<strong>

**July 7**

_Chief,_

_A couple of men stopped in today while you were out. Said they were private detectives hired by the Murrow family to look into the Jody Murrow case. I scheduled an appointment for you with them Tuesday at 3. If that won't work, let me know._

_-Lisa_


	5. Sunday, July 8

**Day 5** – _Sunday July 8, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, EMILEE READING to THOMAS READING<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:18 PM**_

Running a few minutes late, baby. A student came in last minute wanting to interview me about the West Hill Tragedy for a paper he's working on. I'm just getting out now. Do I need to stop at Larry's for anything?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:20 PM**_

Done here. How'd the interview with the janitor go?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:23 PM**_

bust. he doesnt know anythng more n what he told bobby. u?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:25 PM**_

Enough to make me think this Nell Spotsgood is still hanging around.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:27 PM**_

spill

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:31 PM**_

The Professor said Nell had told friends that her husband beat her. It's rumored there hadn't been a mistress in the picture at all, and that Nell smothering her child had been an accident.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:33 PM**_

how do u accidentally smother a baby?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:36 PM**_

Your guess is as good as mine. I gave her our # in case she thought of anythingelse.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:38 PM**_

ooooooooo was she cute?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:41 PM**_

Dean, she was in her 40s. I'm heading back to the library. You heading back to theMurrow's next?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 12:43 PM**_

yea, but was she cute?

* * *

><p><strong>COLD CASE RECORDS, found by SAM WINCHESTER <strong>

_**(Pinned to the wall of Room # 23, Rock Ranch Motel)**_

List of unsolved murders in Pulaski County

Arkansas Cold Case Resources

1949

_**(Circled in red ink)**_

**MCDANIEL, GABRIELLE** – Gabrielle "Gabby" McDaniel worked as an onsite nurse for Little Rock's West Hill while attending medical school in the evenings. At the age of 29, McDaniel disappeared on the night of June 4, 1950. McDaniel was last seen earlier in the evening when a friend dropped her off at the school. She planned to walk the three blocks home. She never made it. Friends and family say they saw no signs of strain or abuse in the relationship between McDaniel and her spouse. Eugene McDaniel pleaded innocent to killing his wife and their unborn son, whose bodies were discovered several months later in the Arkansas River. In later years, the Gabrielle McDaniel Memorial Scholarship was established by the Little Rock Indian Nation, with the support of her family.

* * *

><p><strong>NEWSPAPER CLIPPING from the Pulaski Daily, pasted in JOHN WINCHESTER'S Journal. <strong>

_**(Taken out and pinned to the wall of Room # 23 of the Rock Ranch Motel by SAM WINCHESTER)**_

LITTLE ROCK – Airing locally on Tuesday, November 28th, on WPRD at 9:00 P.M, the "Lily Prewitt Show" will reopen the unsolved murder of Tarrah Quentin, as her family still looks for clues in the case.

Roger Quentin, the father of the deceased, and her brother, Shaun Quentin will be featured during the show in an effort to reignite interest in the cold case murder. "We want to bring her killer to justice," commented her father Roger, in a statement issued through the show, "And we need the public's help. All it takes is somebody willing to come forward."

Tarrah Louise Quentin, age 32, was found near the Arkansas River in the early hours of the morning of January 25, 1998. Quentin, who was six months pregnant at the time, was "taking out the trash for the night" at her place of employment, the Little Rock Historical Society.

It was first speculated that Quentin may have been a victim of a mugging gone wrong at the time. Trash was found scattered on the ground where her car had been parked and her car door had been left ajar at the scene, said police.

It wasn't until Quentin's body, clad in maternity clothes, was found in the Arkansas River three weeks later, her son's remains missing.

According to the show's producers, the hostess of the show, Lily Prewitt, says, "I can't really imagine the pain that this family has gone through, and I can only hope that if any of my viewers out there have any information, that they will come forward and help solve this terrible crime and put this family's suffering to rest.

Anyone with information about the case can contact the Little Rock Police Department investigators with any tips to aide in this unsolved murder.

* * *

><p><strong>NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, found by SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**(Pinned to the wall of Room # 23 of the Rock Ranch Motel)**_

POLICE PURSUE LEADS IN DEATH OF PREGNANT MOTHER

By Jessica McDonnell, The Pulaski Daily June 12, 1952

Police yesterday surrounded a remote area of the Arkansas River where 28-year-old Francene Landon, a pregnant mother of 2, was found after an early morning disappearance. Details of the death are not being released, but the small, rural neighborhood where the Landons have lived for going on 9 years is, today, deathly quiet. State police say they have some leads into the slaying that has rocked this tiny community, but so far no suspects have been arrested.

* * *

><p><strong>JOHN WINCHESTER'S Journal<strong>

_**(Handwritten notes – additional notes made by SAM WINCHESTER)**_

_Little Rock, AR_

_**Jody Murrow 2007 – missing – age 26**_

_**-Teacher/ABC Academy and Learning Center**_

_Tarrah Quentin - 1998 - Beat and strangled, unmarried - Body found by Arkansas River_

_-__**Janitor/LR Historical Soc. – no remains – cremated – age 32 (6 months pregnant)**_

_Francene Langdon (Landon?) - 1952 - Cause of death unknown, suspect strangulation - Body found by Arkansas River_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – buried in Southtown, NC – age 28 (pregnant, mother of 2)**_

_Gabrielle McDaniel- 1949 1950 - Missing - Body not found __**(Body found in Arkansas River)**_

_**-Nurse/West Hill – age 29 (Unborn son)**_

_Patrice Claude - 1874 - Cause of death unknown - Body found in Arkansas River_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – buried in St. Francis Cemetery**_

_Nell Spotsgood – 1869 - Strangled by husband - Farm burnt to ground_

_**-Teacher/West Hill – no remains (killed infant son)**_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 3:39 PM**_

I think I've got something here. You still at the Murrows?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 3:40 PM**_

yea. almost done.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 3:42 PM**_

Find out if the vic was pregnant.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 3:43 PM**_

what?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 3:45 PM**_

Just do it.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 4:02 PM**_

positive on the prego. howd u know?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 8 **__**2007 4:05 PM**_

Bingo. I've got the pattern.


	6. Monday, July 9

**Day 6 – **_Monday, July 9, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>NOTES, taken by KATHIE during phone conversation with SAM WHEELER<strong>

_Sam Wheeler 785-555-3297_

_Interested in OA opening_

_Experience: office management and accounting. _

_High School Diploma_

_Currently in law school_

_Faxing resume – coming in at 2:00_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:17 PM**_

Just got off the phone with the school. I've got an interview at 2.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:19 PM**_

u mght be walkin. i'm still n the waiting room. remind me again y i'm talking to this walter guy?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:22 PM**_

Winston, Dean, and he's been the Historical Society's museum curator for 20 years. If Spotsgood left anything behind she could still be connected to, he'd be the guy who would know. Have patience, young grasshopper.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:23 PM**_

overrated, patience is. bored, am i

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:24 PM**_

Thank you, Master Yoda. You've never heard of good things come to those who wait?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:26 PM**_

good things are good things. y the hell wait?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:27 PM**_

Don't forget to call the school when you get done there.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:28 PM**_

Yes mom. IF i ever get done here. btw, wht landed n the specific ocean in march of 2001?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:28 PM**_

What?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:30 PM**_

they got a crossword puzzle book sittin here and i picked it up

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:31 PM**_

Can you be more pacific?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 9 **__**2007 10:30 PM**_

…ur a jackass

* * *

><p><strong>PHONE MESSAGE, from RACHELLE to KATHIE<strong>

_**(Left on Kathie's desk during lunch break)**_

FOR: _Kathie__

DATE: _7/9/07__ TIME:_1:35__P.M/A.M.

**-WHILE-YOU-WERE-OUT-**

M: _Dean Womack__

OF: _N/A 

PHONE:_ 785-555-9688 _Ext:_ N/A____

FAX: __N/A_

TELEPHONED: __X__ PLEASE CALL: __X__

RETURNED YOUR CALL: _ WILL CALL AGAIN: _

CAME TO SEE YOU: _ URGENT: _ 

MESSAGE: _Called about open teacher aide position. High School ____

_Diploma – experience in early childhood. Some volunteer ___ _

_work.___ _

* * *

><p><strong>STICKY NOTE, from KATHIE to MIKE<strong>

_**(Left on the Janitor closet before closing)**_

_Mike-_

_Please check the lights in the P2 room. The new teacher says they're flickering again._

_Thanks_

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary<strong>

_July 9, 2007_

_Dear Diary,_

_Okay, so Kendra seriously cracked me up today. We've been reading Richard Scarry's Book of Fairy Tales all this month and the kids have just fallen in love with Little Red Riding Hood. Seriously, we've read it like twenty times! Anyway, so we were out on the playground today and Kendra wanted me to play Little Red Riding Hood with them. She wanted me to be the Big Bad Wolf, of course, so I roared and chased her around, but then I decided to mess with her, so the next time she asked me to play, I asked her, "Why do I always have to be the Big Bad Wolf? Can't I be Little Red Riding Hood sometime?"_

_Kendra brightened and said, "Okay, Ms. Colleen, you be Little Red Riding Hood and I'll be the wolf and you scream when I eat you."_

_The things these kids say! _

_Also, the new girl – Renee- she started today and so far I really like her. It's a little weird to see somebody else in Jody's room, but I suppose I'll get used to it. She's a little shy, so I invited her to come and talk to me in the hallway at naptime if she got all her work done. She looked at me like I was crazy until I told her that we all do it. I don't think I could live without my "adult time." When you're only interacting with a bunch of preschoolers for 8 hours a day, every day, you come to treasure adult conversation! To her credit, she did come out and talk to me for a little while, mostly to ask questions, but at least we've got a line of communication open._

_As nice as Renee is so far, she seems…I don't know…a little sad. Like, she'll be all smiles with her kids, but when she thinks nobody's looking her face falls a little and you can just tell something is on her mind. I'd bet you anything there's a story to her moving here. All alone, new city, family far away…or maybe I'm just overanalyzing things. I'm looking forward to getting to know her, though. _

_Not much else happened today. I know that Kathie did interviews for the aide positions because there were people in and out of the school all day. Kathie's different in that she does interviews and hires before you fill out an application, which is great for the people applying, I guess. They don't have to deal with all that paperwork if they don't get hired, but I kinda wish she'd let me sit in on the interviews, at least for my room, since I'm the one stuck with whoever she hires. I just hope she doesn't hire some yahoo off the street again. Don't get me wrong; Ivy was nice and all, but teacher-aide-by-day/stripper-by-night was a little too wild for me. I wonder if she lied on her application… Either way, it'll be nice to have some help! _

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

Sent: Monday, July 9, 2007 7:23 PM

**Subject:** Hey Ma

Hey Ma,

I got your email yesterday and I'm sorry I didn't answer back right away. Everything's fine, it's just been a hectic several days. Hopefully I'll make up for it in this letter!

I started the new job. Today was my first day, but already I like it and I don't think I'll have a problem fitting in. It's an all-female staff, except for the janitor, and except for Kathie, we're all young, the oldest being Rachelle in her late twenties and the youngest being Nidia (the Elementary teacher's aide) and she's nineteen. The kids take a 2-hour nap here, from 12 to 2, and as long as the teachers have all their daily work done, they can do whatever they want during that time. The teacher across the hall from me, Colleen, told me that most teachers sit at their doors and talk to each other since we aren't allowed to leave the room while the kids are sleeping.

Colleen's super nice, and she seems really easy to talk to. She's been at the school for only a few years, but by the way she talks, she's worked with kids most her life. She's cute with her red hair and freckles. I can tell she's got kids at home; she's got the patience of a freaking saint! I think she's a diary girl, because I've caught her several times concentrating on a little pink notebook and when she realizes I've noticed, she'll tuck it away.

She invited me to come and sit out in the hall with her today at naptime so I did for a little while and we just talked. I've got to admit, it's nice to have a friend. I have a great bunch of kids, too, and my schedule is easy, although my classroom leaves A LOT to be desired. The building itself is pretty old –the Elementary floor was more recently remodeled, so they don't have the problems up there that we have down here. I think the wiring's old because the stupid lights flicker sometimes and there must be something wrong with the AC because my room gets freezing cold. Hard to believe, I know, since it's like record high outside. But, just like the lights, it doesn't happen all the time. It'll be fine for a while and then suddenly it's freezing, like the AC kicks up a few notches. This morning it got so bad that I let my kids wear their coats during Circle time.

I talked to Rachelle about getting the temperature fixed but she was no help. According to her, it's just my room and it's been like that since the last teacher started. They don't know what it is and they've had a repairman come in to try and figure it out. She said she would talk to Kathie for me about it, though.

Anyway, back to what I saying before. Colleen invited me to the staff's margarita night Thursday. I guess they go out every week after the school closes to a local restaurant to have "adult" time. I won't be able to drink, of course, but I think I'll go. I need to get out of my bubble and it'll be nice to get to know the rest of the girls outside of work.

Kiss daddy for me. Love you, too.

Renee


	7. Tuesday, July 10

**Day 7 – **_Tuesday, July 10, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>NOTE, from KATHIE to RACHELLE<strong>

_**(Left on Rachelle's desk from the night before)**_

_Rach,_

_A few things for you to do/know before I head out of town for the week:_

_Jay will be by this afternoon to pick up his check. It's locked in my top desk drawer._

_Give pest control a call and have them come out today. I heard scratching noises in the walls again last night so we've probably got mice again. Let's get it taken care of before it has a chance to become a problem. _

_Finally, I filled both positions yesterday, but I won't be here to train them so be a doll and show them the ropes. Sam Wheeler will be coming in at 8:30 Wednesday to be with you in the office and Dean Womack at 10:00 to observe in Colleen's classroom. Have him observe first and then start him as the Aide on Thursday. _

_Call me if you have any problems._

_Kathie_

* * *

><p><strong>STICKY NOTE, from MIKE to KATHIE<strong>

_**(Left on Kathie's desk)**_

_Checked all fluorescents in P2, couldn't find anything wrong. Ballasts may be going bad. _

* * *

><p><strong>NEWSPAPER ARTICLE<strong>

_The Little Rock Capital Journal_

NEWS

POLICE SEEKING MISSING PRESCHOOL TEACHER FIND BODY

By Robert Turion

Published: July 10, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, AR – It was supposed to have been Jody Murrow's wedding night. But hours after the Preschool teacher was to be married at St. Peter's Church of Christ on June 28th, family members became concerned when the she went missing.

After weeks of no word, investigators found a body dumped in the Arkansas River near where she was last seen alive.

While the remains have yet to be identified, Greg Eddison, the Little Rock Police Chief, said the authorities were assuming they were of Ms. Murrow, a 26-year old expecting mother and bride to be. The discovery appeared to have ended a 2 week long search for Jody that began with speculation of a runaway bride but quickly gave way to near certainty that a crime had been committed.

The authorities have not identified any suspects, but Murrow's disappearance recalled a disturbing case from December of 1998: the sudden death of Tarrah Quentin, 32, another employee of the ABC Academy and Learning Center whose body was found near the Arkansas River not far from the school; that crime remains unsolved.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:19 PM**_

They found Murrow's body. It's all over the papers. We should hit the morgue.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:22 PM**_

cant. got that meeting wit police chef 3.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:26 PM**_

I'll cover that. You get a look at the body.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:29 PM**_

why i get the stiff?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:31 PM**_

You're closer.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:34 PM**_

u have the car

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:36 PM**_

Its your turn.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:39 PM**_

bitch

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 10 **__**2007 2:40 PM**_

Jerk

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary <strong>

_July 10, 2007_

_Dear Diary,_

_Oh my god. They found her body. Jody's gone. She's dead. I can't believe it! She's really gone. They found her in the river. Brendan said he heard she'd been strangled. Oh God…_

_It's so hard to believe. I mean, I just saw her the night before her wedding. She was so excited. Poor Jody. And her family… _

_God…Jody._

_I guess I knew all along she wouldn't run away. It's so sad. She had her whole life ahead of her. Getting married, a baby on the way…it makes me want to go home and just hug Brendan and A.J. Not sure if I'll ever let A.J. out of my sight again after this._

_The rest of the day was a blur. Jackson had another accident right before lunch, but I was so out of it I just grabbed his spare clothes and changed him without really thinking about it. Then the power went off, which freaked all the kids out. Trying to calm them down after that scare was near impossible._

_Rachelle stopped by to see how I was doing this morning and to give me the good news. Apparently, Kathie did hire me temporary teacher aide to help me out until Nidia finishes her schooling at the end of the month. He starts tomorrow. Yeah, I said "he". I'm not really sure how I feel about it, not saying a guy can't be a good teacher, but I've never worked with one and they're rare in the Preschool field. It'll definitely be interesting. He's observing in my class tomorrow, so I hope I'm a little more with-it by then. All I want to do is sit at my desk and cry. _

_It's been a really weird day. On top of everything else, I think Renee might be sick. I don't want to pry, but I caught her dry heaving in the bathroom yesterday morning, and then again this morning. That's two days in a row now – round about the same time. I offered to call Nidia down to cover her class for a few minutes so she could take a break, but she insisted she was all right so I didn't push. I don't know if I should worry. It could be nothing, and like I said, I don't want to pry, but I am going to see if she'll talk to me at naptime again today. Maybe she just needs a friendly ear, and it'll distract me from thinking about Jody._

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Tuesday, July 10, 2007 9:32 PM

**Subject:** Hey Ma

Ma,

Do you know where we packed my umbrella? I can't find it and it's supposed to be rainy this weekend. Doesn't surprise me that it's lost in the masses here. Up until tonight I couldn't even find my curling iron or my hair clips. Remind me next time to not let dad help pack. My hair stuff was crammed into one of the kitchen boxes, wedged between the spaghetti drainer and some pots and pans.

Slowly but surely I'm getting everything organized. I've already finished the bedroom and the bathroom, and the living room is coming along nicely. I can't wait for you to see it. I hung up the painting Grandma gave me right above the cute little fireplace. Did I tell you I had a fireplace? It's not real, but it looks like it. Dad would be jealous – all I have to do is turn a little knob and the fire comes on. No ashes, no mess.

Anyway, I'm glad to finally be sitting down. I've been kind of on edge all night and I think I just need to chill out. I don't know how many times I've jumped at the slightest shadow tonight, or been startled by Gypsy or scared myself silly whenever I hear the slightest creak. Maybe it's the job. Don't get me wrong, I still really like it, but something seems a little - I don't know - off to me. Like how I can, in a room full of a dozen 3-year-olds, feel like someone is watching me. It's creepy.

I guess they found the body of the girl who had taught in my room before me. As if that alone wasn't enough to freak me out, something really weird happened today during story time. I was reading _Felix Fox and Max the Ox_ when the lights just went out. Of course it scared the kids and I spent the next few minutes trying to keep them calm, but then my door just opened. I thought it was Rachelle coming to check on us so I asked what was wrong. I swear I saw somebody there standing in the hall, ma, but no one answered and when the lights came back on there was no one there. I talked to Colleen later, thinking it may have been her trying to figure out what was going on with the power, but she told me that one of her kids had an accident and she'd been in the bathroom changing his clothes.

And before you say anything, no, I'm not going crazy :P It's probably a lot of things – the weird stuff aside, I'm really tired all the time, which the doc says is normal, and on top of that I'm adjusting to these new hours and a whole new lifestyle on top of that. I'll get used to it. I still think this is the best thing for me. I'm gonna head off to bed now. Love and miss you and daddy.

Renee


	8. Wednesday, July 11

**Day 8 – **_Wednesday, July 11, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:32 AM**_

im here. now what do i do? just sit n watch?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:34 AM**_

That's the idea. And you're not supposed to be texting at work.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:35 AM**_

but it feels so dirty. watching kids?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11**__**2007 10:37 AM**_

It's called an Observation, Dean. You're supposed to watch.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:37 AM**_

…dude, this girl is hot

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:38 AM**_

Down boy. I'm looking at her file now. She's married.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:40 AM**_

makes me wanna sing 'hot 4 teacher'

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 10:41 AM**_

Put your phone away.

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary<strong>

_July 11, 2007_

_Dear Diary, _

_So the Preschool floor doesn't feel quite so empty anymore. The new help started today, and already I've made a complete fool of myself! When I clocked in this morning there was this big, tall guy talking to Rachelle by the break room. I assumed he was my new aide since Rach had told me it was a guy, so when I introduced myself, I said something along the lines of, "Hi. You must be the new teacher aide. Dean, right?" Only, I'm sure with the stack of books and 3 big bottles of finger paint in my hands, plus the fact that I was out of breath from climbing the stairs, that it sounded more like, "Hiyoumustbethenewteacheraide . Deanright?"_

_He blinked at me a few times before taking my awkwardly outstretched hand and correcting me: "Actually, it's Sam." _

_So apparently, Kathie hired an office aide, too. I could see Rachelle behind him, screwing up her face and trying to hold in laughter. If I could have gotten away with it I would have thrown a book at her._

_At least he was nice about it. He politely introduced himself as Sam Wheeler, and I did my best to not squeak out my apologies. I was so flustered that I lost my grip on my stack and dropped everything on the floor._

_Sam gentlemanly helped me pick up the books and offered to help me carry them to my room, but I declined, embarrassed beyond belief. And did I mention he was tall? I literally have to look up to talk to him. He's got to be over 6'. He has a nice smile though, accented just right with cute dimples, so he doesn't look at all threatening, which is good since he towers over all the kids. _

_As if I hadn't embarrassed myself enough, Sam was standing at the copy machine later on when we took the kids out into the hall for a potty break. Jakoby saw him standing there, pointed his little finger right at him and, loud enough for Sam to hear, said, "Ms. Colleen, there's a giant over there!" _

_I was mortified! Mortified and really wishing we hadn't read "Mickey and the Beanstalk" last week. _

_The real Dean, who had come in around 10:00, thought that was just hilarious. They must know each other outside of work because Sam glared at him for a moment before Dean shut up. Then Sam smiled at Jakoby and told him that he wasn't a giant, that he was just really tall. I swear I heard Dean mutter something that sounded an awful lot like "Sasquatch". Then Jackson, of course, had to put his two cents in and told Sam that he wasn't just tall, he was "really, really tall", which came out like "weally, weally all"._

_ Dean, at this point, was finding it difficult to contain himself, so when Kalem hollered "I pooped!", I took the opportunity to appear extremely busy. Mr. Dean could take care of that one. It served him right, and besides, it was a good way to break him in. At least, that's what I was thinking as I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye. Sam was looking triumphant, and this time it was Dean glaring. _

_Yeah, they know each other outside of work._

_ Dean is definitely a trooper. Between Gwen in Renee's class throwing up all over the hallway, Jameer displaying one of his screaming-nonstop-for-20-minutes temper tantrums, wiping Kalem's bottom, trying to get a rock out of the Jackson's nose, and having to break up who knows how many arguments over who had what toy first, I'm surprised at him. I mean, I wasn't sure what to think when he first walked in. He definitely doesn't look like a Preschool teacher. A gym teacher maybe, or a coach, but not a Preschool teacher. _

_I know it's cliche, but when I picture a male Preschool teacher, I see a shy, insecure man with a let's-talk-about-it-attitude. Not this guy. He looks more like a mechanic or a roof repairman or something. Something with his hands, because seriously, he's always moving. Even if it's just his eyes. I swear, every time he walks into a new room his eyes are everywhere, like he's taking everything in. I wonder if he's ever been in the military. Wouldn't surprise me by the way he moves, too. You wouldn't think that a big guy like that could be so quiet, but in the two hours he's been with me in the classroom, he's scared me several times just by coming up to stand behind me. I can't see a military man being a Preschool teacher, though._

_ Maybe it's a mystery I'll eventually find out. Mulling it over now, I think it'll be a good change for the kids. Having both male and female role models in the school can only help our age group, some of which don't have both parents in their home._

_ Dean helped me serve lunch and then, after we got the kids down for nap, I got the opportunity to talk to him a little. I have to admit, it was slightly awkward at first. I'm not used to talking to guys anymore; at least guys I don't know. Heck, I've been married for 6 years now, it's not like I've had much practice. But Dean was incredibly nice and he actually carried most of the conversation. Apparently, he's a big history buff. Again, surprising. He asked about a whole bunch of things, mostly about the building. I don't know how, but we got on the subject of Jody. And yes, I cried a little. He told me how sorry he was for my loss and asked me how well I'd known her. _

"_Not real well," I told him, because I wasn't really sure I wanted to even have this conversation with someone I barely knew. I was glad when Renee finally came out to sit._

_ She looked a little pale, if you ask me. She must still be fighting a bug because she had a long-sleeved jacket on and was still shivering, but when I asked her what was wrong, she just shrugged and said, "Room just got freaking cold, but its back to normal now."_

_ I swear Dean's gaze sharpened at that, but it was gone about as quickly as it had come and he offered her his hand and introduced himself. "Sorry, I didn't get to officially meet you earlier. You were…uh…a little busy." _

_ "Thanks again for coming to the rescue," she said, and took his hand. Her grip looked shaky in his and he remarked on that, too._

_ We explained to him that her room in particular has always had a problem with the air conditioner and that we've had repairmen come out to look at it but nobody can ever tell us what's wrong._

_ Dean's focus was more on Renee after that. He's got to be single, what with the way his clothes are a tad on the rumpled side, not to mention the way he smiles at her. Renee should watch out. She's a pretty girl and Dean…well, I'm married and I can see he's got charm. _

_ Anyway, Dean offered to take a look at it. He said his dad was kind of a jack-of-all-trades and taught him a little about wiring. _

_ All that aside, Renee really did look…I don't know…a little freaked out. She asked Dean if he had come into her room at all this morning. I thought that was odd, since Dean had been with me since he'd clocked in._

_ "No," he answered, and of course asked why._

_ She laughed nervously and told us not to think she was nuts. Dean, I have to say, is excellent at putting people at ease. He lightened the mood with an easy chuckle and a remark: "You're a Preschool teacher. I already think you're nuts. Who else cleans up vomit and wipes butts for a living?"_

_ And darned if it didn't work! Renee smiled at him, though I could tell she didn't want to, and said, "Well, more nuts than usual, I guess."_

_ I don't remember exactly what she said, or how the conversation went, but I'll try to get it as close as possible. _

_Renee took a deep breath before saying, "I just…I was getting the kids lined up for recess earlier when I turned around and saw somebody standing by my desk."_

"_Who was it?" I asked._

_Renee shook her head. "I don't know."_

_ Dean took immediate interest "What'd they look like?" he asked. _

_The feeling of foreboding that came on me then was surprising. I mean, this was a school, and Renee was new. Of course there would be people she wouldn't recognize yet. It would take her a few weeks to get to know her own student's parents, let alone the parents of students in the other classes on this floor alone. And on top of that, there tends to be a pretty steady flow of 'new faces' anyway. Whether it's a new parent, or an aunt/uncle/friend/relative dropping something off for students or even picking them up when a parent can't make it. So why was I fighting off my own chill when Renee saw someone she didn't recognize?_

_Maybe it was the way Renee said it; like I said, she looked spooked. Or maybe I was still dwelling on Jody. The thought of a stranger lurking around the school, waiting to strangle unsuspecting teachers was probably a little much, but my nerves had been on overdrive since they'd found her body._

_Thinking about it now, though, I'm not so sure it was either of those things. I think it was Dean. His reaction, at least; like he shifted into protector mode or something. I found myself suddenly thankful we had a man on staff. A bunch of women wouldn't be much of a threat should some stranger decide to barge into the school and start any trouble, not with all the kids we have to protect, I mean. And Dean…well, he looked like he could take care of himself._

_Back to what happened, though. Renee had paused, and it looked like she was either trying to remember or like she was genuinely struggling with how to answer his question. Finally she said, "I don't really know. I didn't really see him all that well. It was kinda like…kinda like when you see something out of the corner of your eye. One minute it's there, the next it's not, you know? I probably wouldn't even have thought much about it except Addy saw him first. I had my back turned when she grabbed my pant leg and pointed to my desk and asked me, "Who's that?" _

_Dean frowned. "Wasn't me."_

"_Was it the other new guy? Sam?" I asked her. I thought that was a pretty fair assumption. After all, Renee's desk is by the door and Sam was the only other guy here. He could have come in to drop something off and the kids wouldn't have recognized him._

_She shook her head. "The tall guy? I saw him this morning. That wasn't him."_

"_A parent?"_

"_No one I know," she said. _

"_Was it a woman?" Dean asked._

_Renee dropped her head. "I suppose it could have been. I'm not sure of anything right now."_

_I don't know where the conversation would have gone to next, because right at that moment Nidia came down the hall to fetch Dean so that she could show him the Teacher Resource Room._

_Well, now that I've practically written a novel, I should probably get ready to get the kids up from nap. Dean will be back soon and we've got clay to conquer this afternoon. Hope he's up for more!_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:18 PM**_

I thought I told you to put your phone away?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:19 PM**_

its nap time. i can text if i want. find anything?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:21 PM**_

If you mean the only remaining item belonging to our ghost - you know, the Bible that Prof. Winston told you about - then no.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:22 PM**_

how cute. first day on the job n ur already grumpy

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:25 PM**_

Bite me. I've got a pretty good idea where it is. There's supposed to be a display case in the basement with some old artifacts in it from the original schoolhouse. I'll bet you anything it's there.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:25 PM**_

can u get down there 2 look?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:27 PM**_

Not yet, but I couldn't burn it even if I found it anyway. Alarms will go off like crazy and response time for schools is practically immediate. This place would be crawling with fire dept, cops and paramedics in minutes.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:28 PM**_

damn. btw - did u stop by the P2 room earlier?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:29 PM**_

No. Why?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:29 PM**_

teacher says she saw someone n there.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:30 PM**_

That's not exactly mysterious, Sherlock. You know, public and all that.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:31 PM**_

shut up dumbass. the visitor disappeared b4 she could get a good look. kid saw it 2. im thinkin it was nell.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:31 PM**_

Okay. Anything else?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:33 PM**_

cameras. theres one in each classroom. u might be able to go back and see the spook. and give u something 2 do while ur sitting on ur ass in there.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:33 PM**_

Shut up, jerk. I'll see what I can do. How was the vomit?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 1:34 PM**_

gross, dude. what did that kid eat?

* * *

><p><strong>STICKY NOTE, <strong>**taken by SAM WINCHESTER**

_**(Stuffed immediately in pocket)**_

_Alarm code - 1712_

_Call word - Roxie_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:00 PM**_

Good news. Got the school's alarm code AND found the Bible.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:10 PM**_

nice. where the bible?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:13 PM**_

Where I said it'd be. In the basement.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:14 PM**_

problem solved. we'll come back tonite, burn the bitch, get back on the road.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:15 PM**_

Can't tonight.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:15 PM**_

y not?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:16 PM**_

PTO meeting.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:16 PM**_

what?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:16 PM**_

Really, Dean? It's when parents get together with teachers and they talk about the school. And the meeting's in the basement, in the Conference Room. Where the display case is. Where the Bible is.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:18 PM**_

i know what it is. well just come after that.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:19 PM**_

Can't.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:19 PM**_

now what?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:20 PM**_

You were the one who pointed out the cameras to me. We're going to have to figure out how to shut them down so we don't hand our asses over to the LRPD.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:21 PM**_

that's what u get paid the big bucks 4.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:23 PM**_

I'm working on it. Maybe one more day.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:23 PM**_

fine. c u back at the room.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:24 PM**_

You're off?

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:25 PM**_

n 5. looks like somebody's walking

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 11 **__**2007 4:25 PM**_

Yep. I have the keys ;)

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Wednesday, July 11, 2007 8:23 PM

**Subject:** Hey Ma

Hey ma. Geez, have I had a day! And I'm going to tell you about it, whether you like it or not, because dang it, SOMEBODY has to feel sorry for me! And if you laugh at me you better not tell me. Just humor me, okay? LOL!

One of my kids got sick today. I mean, really sick. Her mama dropped her off this morning and I'm not kidding, not even a half hour later, as we were lining up to go to the bathroom, she told me that her tummy hurt. Well, Kaci was crying, and Jacob and Javion were fighting, so I brushed it off. Only later would I realize that I reeeeeeeeeeally shouldn't have done that. But in my defense, Gwen's been known to tell me she doesn't feel good when she's mad or just plain wants her mommy. So it's not completely my fault!

Anyway, we're lining up and as we're walking out the classroom door, I realize I forgot to grab my morning lunch count ticket, so I turn around and grab it from my desk, thinking I can just fill it out in the hallway while I'm waiting. By the time the last kid is out the door and I step outside the room, I realize there's white gunk ALL OVER THE FLOOR, leading from my room, through the foyer and disappearing around the corner of the bathroom hallway. It was one of those moments when you literally go over in your head every possible thing that it could have possibly been, because it damn-well hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Then Laken, looking as grossed out as a child possibly can, informs me that, "Gwen's puking."

I raced into the bathroom to catch Gwen just finishing up her business in the toilet, but geez, it was EVERYWHERE! All over the floor, her clothes, her face – even all over Laken! No wonder he'd looked so disgusted! He must have been the child right in front of her when she'd started.

So now I'm faced with a dilemma. I've got all 12 students, none of which I'm allowed to leave unsupervised; I've got 2 children covered in throw-up who need to be cleaned up and clothes changed, and both my baby wipes and their spare clothes are all the way back in my classroom. I need a couple bags to seal up their nasty clothing, as well as the Clorox wipes and Lysol from the kitchen downstairs to clean up and disinfect the floors. Oh, and I need a phone to call Gwen's mama. In a nutshell, there's a disgusting trail of puke from my classroom door all the way to the bathroom, and not a single teacher, aide or parent is in sight to help! The offices, which are next to the bathrooms, are also empty because Kathie is out of town and Rachelle was probably out collecting the lunch tickets! I didn't know what else to do, so I sent one of my older kids, Aaron, on a mission to dart back to the room and grab my cell phone from my desk so that I could call Rachelle and plead for help.

And my poor class! They were soooooo hyper after all that excitement, and seriously, trying to do all of the above plus keep 11 other children from bouncing off the walls and injuring each other…well, Ms. Renee was snapping at them a tiny bit.

Finally, Aaron comes back, but he doesn't have my phone. And he's not alone. There's a guy carrying him, asking him where he's supposed to be and telling him that he's not supposed to leave his teacher. And of course, Aaron is trying to tell him that he hadn't run off, that I'd told him to go and that he was helping me. I didn't panic, but it was a near thing. If that guy would have been a parent or a state rep or something they could have reported me for letting a child go off unsupervised. Thankfully, he wasn't either of those. He was actually the new P1 teacher aide.

He noticed the mess as soon as he put Aaron down and asked if I needed help. At that point I was willing to accept anybody's help, so I sent him to fetch what I needed from the room, then he went out to find Rachelle. By the time he got back Gwen had calmed down, so he helped clean up the hallway as I washed off and changed her and Laken.

Oh, the joys of being a Preschool teacher, LOL!

I didn't get to actually meet the guy until naptime, when I came out to sit with Colleen. How you can not get the name of the person helping you clean up vomit, I dunno, but after he saved my life we went into our separate classrooms and I didn't see him again until after all the kids had fallen asleep. I found out his name is Dean and, bless him, he offered to look at the whole fluctuating temperature thing going on in my room. That was about all the conversation we had until later on in the afternoon when he brought Snack into the room for us. After he had dropped the tray off he asked if he could look around the room. He must have seen my confused face because he explained that he'd checked the temperature gauge after our talk and he hadn't seen anything wrong with it, so maybe there was something in the room messing with it. A closed vent or something like that.

I really hope he doesn't think I'm dense enough to not have checked the vents myself, but he did look around. He looked everywhere actually; even in places that didn't have anything to do with the air conditioner. Still not really sure what he was looking for, but he talked to me while he was doing it. It kinda felt like he was trying to distract me or something because he was asking some strange questions - questions that also had nothing to do with the wiring or the air conditioning! I was pouring juice into the kid's cups and getting ready to have them say grace when he asked if the previous teacher had left anything in the room or if I'd seen or smelled anything unusual since I started here - stuff like that.

I asked Colleen about it and she thinks he's probably just interested in me, so he was coming up with excuses to stay in the room and talk to me. I hope that's not the case. I've had it with relationships for a while.

Anyway, you asked me in your last letter about how I was feeling? In answer, I don't really know. I get jittery during the day. Sometimes these irrational feelings hit me and it takes me a few minutes to get over them. Is that normal? I know being pregnant is supposed to amplify your emotions and all that jazz, but - I don't know, I feel like I'm looking into things too much. For instance, I thought I saw a guy in my room this morning and I about had a cow when I turned around he wasn't there. I don't know, ma, maybe I am going crazy. But please don't worry about me. I still feel good about the decision to move out here. The more distance I put between myself and Kenneth, the better.

I'll write again tomorrow. Love you and daddy!

Renee


	9. Thursday, July 12

**Day 9 – **_Thursday, July 12, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>EMAIL, RENEE JORDAN to ELIZABETH JORDAN<strong>

-Original Message-

**From:** renee jordan

**To:** Beth Jordan

**Sent:** Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:45 PM

**Subject:** OMG!

Dear Ma,

OMG! I know it's a little early to be writing you, but I just saw the funniest thing happen and I'm dying to tell someone! It was hard enough just waiting until naptime!

One of my kids really got our office aide today. I felt so bad for the poor guy, but I also couldn't help but laugh! His name is Sam and he's a big dude - big as in tall - and he doesn't look like he's been around kids much. I suppose working with kids isn't necessarily a requirement for an office aide, but he doesn't complain when he has to help. For instance, this morning Laken wet himself. We were right in the middle of playing in shaving cream so I stuck my head out the door and hollered for Nidia. It was either that or traipse 12 shaving-cream-covered preschoolers out into the hallway and have them "not touch anything" while I changed just one of them.

Yeah, impossible.

So I holler for Nidia, but Sam comes out instead. He tells me Nidia's covering another teacher but that he'd be happy to take Laken to the bathroom and get him changed.

They were gone so long I almost forgot about them, but Laken must have decided that Mr. Sam was cool because when they did finally get back, he was practically dragging him and telling him all about his favorite "wacing caw". Now that was a funny sight in itself! This big guy, hunched over and being pulled along at top speed behind a beaming 3 year old. It reminded me of that scene in 101 Dalmatians when Roger is being pulled by Pongo through the park.

Sam blushed as he handed me Laken's shoes, apologizing and admitting that he couldn't get them back on him.

It made me laugh, and by recess a few hours later, we had all but forgotten about the incident. Then Sam comes outside to give one of the teachers a message, and a very distraught Laken immediately latches onto him, begging to be picked up. And by distraught, I mean crying big crocodile tears and blubbering, "Mr. Sam I pee my pants, I pee my pants."

Sam looked a little uncomfortable, but he tried to calm Laken down. It didn't work, and Laken was insistent, so finally Sam reached down, picked him up, and carried him across the playground to me.

So now he's got Laken balanced on one hip and Laken's got his legs wrapped around Sam's waist and I'm watching them both walk up to me, thinking _are you serious? _Because it's unfortunately obvious what's wrong with this picture. You just don't pick up and carry around a child that is telling you he wet himself without checking Sam comes up to me and says, "I think the fact that he had an accident this morning is just now hitting him and he's really upset."

At this point I had a few options, but I didn't want to make Sam feel stupid, so I just looked at Laken and said, in the most sympathetic voice I could muster, "Oh Laken, I hope you didn't have another accident because Mr. Sam is holding you."

I watched Sam's face bug as he realized what he'd done, and yeah, his shirt was a little wet after he hurriedly put Laken down. My heart went out to him – in between fits of laughter – because it was just so damn funny. Colleen and Dean were out there when it happened and saw it, too. Poor Sam! Dean laughed so hard his eyes watered.

Anyway, Sam must carry a change of clothes in his car because I saw him just a little bit ago wearing a different shirt. Hopefully, this was a learning experience for him!

I'm actually in a really good mood today, ma. Tonight is when all the staff goes out to that restaurant I was telling you about for 99-cent margaritas. I had decided not to go since I couldn't drink, but Colleen wouldn't take no for an answer. She's gonna pick me up and drive me there herself. She said she's not a big drinker either and she usually has more fun watching Rachelle get wasted anyway. Apparently, our assistant director puts on quite a show when tequila is involved. This should be fun! And don't worry, I won't drink or do anything stupid.

Love you!

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary<strong>

_July 12, 2007_

_Dear Diary, _

_I thought I'd take a few minutes to squeeze in a little journaling while Dean's out helping Nidia carry in groceries and the rest of kids are asleep._

_It's been a great day. I think I've got Renee talked into going out with us tonight. I practically had to beg, and offer to pick her up at her place since she doesn't know her way around yet, but I think it'll be good for her to get to know some of the girls. And I found out why she's been so sick; she told me she's pregnant!_

_She told me a lot of things actually. I was right in thinking that she just needed an ear to listen, because once she started, she didn't stop until it all came out. Apparently, her getting pregnant was the whole reason why she moved out here. The father wasn't willing to take responsibility and that crushed their relationship. And they'd been together for almost 4 years! So she packed up her things and headed out here for a fresh start. She said her parents have been really supportive, and she emails her mom almost daily to assure her she's all right, but other than that, there was nothing else she left behind. She'd been with this guy so long that he'd become her whole world and she just eventually lost contact with most of her friends. Sad story, but I was honored she confided in me. _

_Things really feel like they are starting to look up. My new friendship with Renee aside, there were no strange incidents today (praise God) and I have to admit, I'm really liking Dean as my aide. I wasn't so sure about him at first, but he's really starting to grow on me. And it's funny to watch him interact with the kids – he's had a good dose of "Kids say the darndest things" today!_

_I originally had a big project planned, but since Dean was there I decided change things up and do a little one-on-one with the kids. One-on-one activities can be crazy without someone else in the room, because it's literally me, sitting down with 1 child, while the other 11 are running rampant._

_Well, maybe not rampant. But usually after the first 10 minutes or so they realize that maybe, just maybe, when Ms. Colleen isn't looking, they can get away with more. It's just easier with someone there to help you._

_So I told Dean what I wanted and he took it from there. I grabbed my color cards, because Kalem was #1 on my list (the poor kid still thinks everything is pink!) and sat down at my desk to get things ready. Dean, following my instructions, got the kids together and had them sit down. I asked him to explain to them what we were going to do, and also to remind them what our rules were when playing indoors. He did just that, and when he was finished, he asked, "So what's the first rule of playing inside?"_

_Several of them answered at once, but it was Jakoby who jumped up with his hand raised and said, "I know! Don't give you or Ms. Colleen a headache!"_

_Dean almost spit out the water he had just taken a drink of and I almost fell out of my chair laughing!_

_The funniest by far though was Kendra. She was playing with a big garbage truck toy I got from the Salvation Army and brought in this morning. There were several toys inside it that I hadn't had the chance to go through yet. In fact, I had forgotten about them. So Kendra was going through these little toys and she says, "Mr. Dean, who's juices?"_

_I couldn't see; I was at my desk, but I heard Dean ask her, "Juices? Where do you see that?" _

"_On this bracelet," she answers. "My mommy has one just like it and she says it says 'juices loves me'." _

_By then Dean had figured out what the bracelet really said, so he answered her, "Oh. Jesus." _

_I'm not kidding you – I look up to see Kendra throwing a glare over her shoulder at Dean and tell him, "Geez, I was just asking."_

_For the second time today, I about fell out of my chair laughing! Not just at Kendra, but at Dean's flustered face as he tried to say, "No! That's not what I…Jesus. That's his name, Jesus."_

_All right. It's about 10-til. Dean will be back any moment and it'll be time to wake the kiddos up._

_I might not have time to write again until tomorrow since I'll be picking Renee up and then going straight to the El Mezcal, but I'll make time for it tomorrow. I have a feeling its going to be a crazy night!_

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, SAM WINCHESTER to DEAN WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 12 **__**2007 3:33 PM**_

Good news. I've rigged the cameras to shut off tonight at midnight. We're all set.

* * *

><p><strong>TEXT, DEAN WINCHESTER to SAM WINCHESTER<strong>

_**Jul 12 **__**2007 3:34 PM**_

nice


	10. Friday, July 13  Part 1

**Day 10 – **_Friday, July 13, 2007_

_**(Part 1)**_

* * *

><p><strong>COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary<strong>

_July 13, 2007_

_Dear Diary,_

_Okay, so I've been sitting here staring at my journal for 15 minutes now, wondering if I should even write any of this down. No one's ever going to believe me… I'm not so sure I even believe what's happened. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was going crazy._

_Where to start? God, I don't even know where to start!_

_Okay, okay. Last night. The restaurant. I picked Renee up at her apartment around 8 and together we went to meet the girls at El Mezcal. Rachelle and Nidia were already there; Jenny and Joy showed up right after us, and Louise was last to arrive, as usual. Stacie couldn't get a sitter, Kathie was still out of town, and Sam and Dean had gracefully denied the invite, go figure. At the time I just figured going out for dinner and drinks with a group of women would have been awkward for them. I can only laugh now at how wrong I was._

_Rachelle had already had 2 margaritas before we got there, so she was pretty tipsy by the time our food arrived. It was one of our calmer Girl's Nights: nothing like the time Bethany handed me her engagement ring and told me to watch it while she left our table to go sit with a bachelor party, and definitely not like the time Rachelle tried to stop a fight between two strangers by getting in the middle of them and throwing her arms around one of them and pretending to be his girlfriend. She still swears she doesn't remember that._

_Rach is a hoot when she gets a few in her, and soon she was regaling her college years, mostly party-mishaps, to Renee, who smiled and laughed when necessary, but mostly threw me incredulous looks from across the table. We left the restaurant around 10, but then ended up sitting in the parking lot until after 11 just talking. It wasn't until we were heading back to her apartment that Renee realized she had forgotten her purse. We called the restaurant but they didn't find it, so we decided to check the school._

_I really wish I would have just taken her home! She didn't need it; she could have waited until tomorrow morning, but I'd had so much fun talking to her and the school was on the way. I insisted it wasn't a big deal and offered to unlock the building so she could check. It would only take a few minutes, I said. In and out, I said._

_The school was dark as I pulled into the parking lot, almost not noticing the shiny black car that was parked way in the corner and out of sight of the highway. It was long and boxy, nothing like any of the cars you see driving around today. Brendan would have known what it was, I'm sure. He loves old muscle cars, and this one was no exception. That was about as much attention I paid to it though, because as soon as I pulled up in front of the building there was something else that caught my eye._

_"Who's that?" Renee asked._

_Because there, exposed in the beams of my headlights, were two figures. One was standing right in front of the school door with a hand raised to block the glare, the other was crouched down behind him. Renee recognized the big one on the ground first. "It's okay. It's just Sam," she said, "and…Dean?"_

_"What are they doing?" I demanded, squinting though my windshield at them._

_I almost choked when Renee opened her door. "I don't know. Let's find out."_

_My gut was telling me to stay in the car, but I ignored it and got out with her. Now, I know what you're probably thinking: not one of my brightest ideas: two big guys, private property, middle of the night, looking a lot like they're trying to break in; it was a whole ball of suspicious. But my mind skipped to Jody and I made up my mind and opened my own door to follow her. I didn't want Renee out there all alone, and really, as weird as this is going to sound, I think I was more curious than worried. I mean, this was Dean. Not that I knew him all that well yet, but I'd spent two days with the guy. I like to think I'm a perceptive person, and something told me Dean wouldn't hurt us. Instinct, intuition… I don't know, but the closer we got to them the more I was convinced. Neither of them looked aggressive, nor were they wearing ski masks or trying to run away._

_"Dean? Sam?" I called. "What's going on?"_

_Don't know why I even bothered; I could see what was going on. When my headlights had first hit them, Sam stood up fast, his hand moving behind his back, and now Dean's smile was looking both relieved and a little forced when he saw us. "Colleen, Renee, what are you guys doing here?"_

_Renee gave him a nervous glance, like she suddenly wasn't sure approaching them had been a good idea. "I think I left my purse in my room. Colleen was gonna let me in so I could look for it. What are you doing here?"_

_Now, have you ever seen those movies where two people are caught red handed doing something wrong and then the hilarity ensues when they both try to come up with an explanation at the same time? That's exactly what their reaction reminded me of._

_"We uh…Sam forgot his…"_

_"…I forgot my key to our…"_

_"…apartment and..."_

_Renee raised a suggestive eyebrow. "So, you two live together?"_

_That was news to me. Sure they were good looking but I hadn't thought…_

_Sam blanched and spluttered, "No...yes…I mean, it's not like that. He's my roommate and I just moved in and..."_

_Dean shook his head and made a face like this was sad news, "Lived in his parent's basement since high school. Not used to carrying a key."_

_Renee looked unconvinced. "Don't you carry a key?" she asked Dean._

_Dean flashed her a smile. "Well, yes, but I had to give it to a friend so he could walk my dog during the day and until we get another key made Sam's got our only one."_

_"Why were you on the ground just now?" Renee continued to drill them._

_By now Sam had recovered himself and pointed at his feet. "I dropped my key when you guys drove up."_

_"Like hell you did," I snapped, and I was surprised at how angry I really was. "Kathie doesn't give employees keys until you've worked here for a year. You were trying to break in, weren't you?_

_Dean looked genuinely surprised. I was either jumping the gun and accusing them wrongly or he was a really good actor. Based on his reaction, though, I was betting on the latter. "Break in? What? No…we…"_

_"Why would you think…?" Sam started, but I didn't let him finish._

_"Yes, you were. You were picking the lock." I glared up at him, and yeah, maybe I should have been a little intimidated, since I was the whole sum of 5'4" to Sam's 6'-whatever, but I was angry, especially with Dean. I'd let myself think he was a good person, even a friend. He was patient, smart, funny… good with the kids. And here he was breaking the law and lying to me about it! What on earth was there in the school to steal? Not money; Rachelle took our deposit in every day before the bank closed at 2. Any useful equipment the school owned was stone-age… our copy machine didn't print color and hadn't since before I was hired on, the one TV we all shared was so big and heavy that we women left it where it was in the basement and just took our classes downstairs whenever we wanted to use it. Heck, it still had a VCR hooked up to it and a collection of old, ratty video tapes on the shelf next to it. The CD players in each classroom were all old, mine worked only when it wanted to and I couldn't get it to play most CDs anyway. The only other things I could think of were the desktop computers in the offices, but even those were dated. Maybe Kathie's printer or fax machine, but you could get better models at Best Buy for cheaper than the bail you'd have to pay if you got arrested for breaking-and-entering. Funding for schools isn't great to begin with, and fundraisers for Pre-K are even worse. I was coming up with a whooping nothing._

_"No he wasn't," Dean shot back._

_It was my turn to raise my eyebrows – both of them, because mine are connected and I can't raise just one without looking like my face is having a seizure._

_I sent Sam a challenging look. "Then what's that in your hand?"_

_"What hand?" That was Dean again, and I wanted to strangle him and tell him to shut up._

_"The one behind his back!"_

_Sam hesitated, but he must have decided I wasn't a threat because he pulled his hand out without trying to hide what was in it. I've never seen what a lock pick looks like, but it couldn't have been anything else. The tool was long and slender and looked like something you would find on a Swiss army knife. I glanced at Renee, than back at Sam, who actually had the nerve to look sheepish._

_"Should I call the police, Colleen?" Renee asked._

_Sam put up his hands, palms out, like he wanted us to see how harmless he was. "Wait, this isn't what it looks like."_

_Renee bit her bottom lip. "Colleen…"_

_"Dean, this is illegal," I insisted, "What on earth are you thinking?"_

_To his credit, Dean looked sincere when he said, "It's not how it looks."_

_"Not how it looks? It's after midnight and we find you trying to break into the school…"_

_"I'm calling the police," Renee added quickly, her hand moving for her phone._

_Sam reached one of those big hands out and caught her arm before she could dial, "Just let us explain."_

_Though the gesture didn't look threatening, or like it even hurt her, Renee jerked away like Sam's touch burned. "Don't touch me."_

_"Dean, you're breaking into the school," I said again. And God, I must have sounded like a broken record!_

_"Listen to me," Dean said, and his expression went flat. It wasn't a look that I ever imagined I would see on his face. It fit him, though, and in that moment I understood several things. The first was that he was serious… Dean was serious and he wanted me to know just how serious he was. The second was more disturbing; the second made me realize that that maybe, just maybe, he and his "roommate" weren't as harmless as they looked._

_He was probably about to go off on some tangent, but Sam stepped in. It looked like, of the two of them, Sam was more the peacekeeper. "Look," he said, placating. "You girls need to just go back to your car and head home. We're not going to do anything to the school. We're actually here to help. We just need to take care of some business and then we'll leave."_

_I wasn't buying it. "You'll just leave?"_

_Dean gave me that crooked smile. "Scouts honor."_

_God, I don't know why, but I believed him. Still didn't mean I trusted either of them._

_"Fine," I said, and reached for the door, my keys already in hand. "Then we'll go with you."_

_"Oh, no no no no," Dean put his arm in front of the door. "No deal."_

_"I'm not asking your permission."_

_"And I'm not letting you go in there."_

_He was starting to tick me off. If they weren't planning on doing anything to the school, then why the fuss? I said as much and only got a glare from Dean._

_"Because you don't need to be involved in this," Sam replied._

_"What are you, the mafia?" I ground out. "If you're telling the truth, then if I let you in, then technically you're not breaking in."_

_"You don't understand," Dean cut in._

_"Then make me understand! Tell us what's going on."_

_Dean was shaking his head, like I was annoying him. I could tell he was straining to keep his patience._

_"It isn't safe, Colleen. You're better off going home."_

_"It isn't safe?" Renee repeated._

_"Like hell it isn't," I retorted, and pushed past Dean's arm, which was still blocking the door._

_"I'm serious," Dean said. He just stood there and stared at me. His eyes were serious, cold even, but there was something else that took me a minute to put my finger on. I think it was concern. Dean was… worried about us, it was the reason he was being such a jerk._

_That made up my mind. "No, I'm serious. You two have 5 seconds to start explaining or we're calling the police."_

_Dean's jaw tightened._

_"Dean." Sam warned._

_"Fine," he said grudgingly. "But you're not going to believe it."_

_"Try me."_

_"There's a ghost haunting your school that's killing people and we're here to stop it."_

_And okay, I hadn't been expected that one. "What?"_

_"I told you you wouldn't believe it."_

_Renee's head dipped over her phone. "I'm calling."_

_"Think about it, Colleen," Sam said, and not unkindly. "Your friend Jody, before that Tarrah Quentin. The body count for this place dates back to the 1800s."_

_My mouth went dry. I'd heard about the janitor who had disappeared back when this place was the Historical Society, and maybe the back of my mind had thought about how crazy of a coincidence it was, but I hadn't allowed myself to dwell on it. And now Sam was telling me that there had been even more disappearances…more murders?_

_I wasn't sure if my mouth would even work at that point, but I opened it anyway to object._

_I didn't get the chance._

_The light above the door began to flicker. All of us turned at the same time to stare at it. Can't say that I'd ever really paid too much attention to it; it was an old-school hanging lantern, probably from the original building just fitted with electricity. We always left it on so that the morning shift wouldn't be fumbling around in the dark at 6:30 in the morning trying to open the door. So no, I'd never really paid attention to it, but I saw Dean's shoulders tense and Sam's Adam's apple bob. It was just a flicker; the power fluctuating or the light bulb going bad, so why did it freak them out so much?_

_"All right, get in the car," Dean ordered._

_At that point I don't think I would have argued with him, especially when his tone of voice scared me more than the flickering light, but again, I didn't get the chance. The light flickered again, and then promptly went out._

_It couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds, I was sure of it. All the same, my hand automatically reached back to grab Renee. I was still reaching when the lantern came back on. I blinked stupidly, my hand fumbling in empty air._

_It didn't register at first that Renee just wasn't there. Sam was turning in place, body coiled but movements smooth. Still, there was an urgency to him, searching our surroundings like I'd only seen police officers do on those reality TV shows. There was something small and gray and looking a lot like a gun clutched in his hand. I heard Dean curse, and his angry tone really hit home._

_Renee was nowhere in sight. "Renee?" I called into the darkness, still unsure. "Renee?"_

_When there was no answer, Dean grabbed my shoulders. He said something to me, but I don't think I heard him. Between catching my friends breaking-and-entering, flickering lights, ghosts and disappearing coworkers, I think Dean might have had to repeat himself. I finally latched on to the word "pregnant."_

_"What?" I asked, dazed._

_"Colleen, listen to me…" Dean was saying. "Was Renee pregnant?"_

_It was such an odd question, and I was already floundering. How did he know she was pregnant? I hadn't even known until she told me, although given another week or so I probably would have figured it out. How did he know? And where was Renee? And what the hell was going on?_

_"Colleen?" He shook me a little more roughly. It didn't hurt, but it did bring me back and helped me focus on him._

_"Dean? What's going on?" I managed get out._

_"Come on, Colleen," he said urgently, "I need to know. Was Renee pregnant?"_

_I hadn't noticed how close he was. His dead-serious face was inches from mine. I pushed him away, and he let go willingly enough. I hesitated before answering, wondering if I should tell him. She hadn't exactly told me it was secret, but it wasn't like she had announced it to the world yet. And what did her being pregnant have to do with her not there anyway?_

_My brilliant reply was a confused, "What?"_

_I had to have sounded like one of my 3 year olds, because Dean, amazingly calm as he was, annunciated every word so that I could understand. "Was. Renee. Pregnant?"_

_My eyes darted from one to the other before I answered, "…Yes."_

_"Crap," Sam spat. His mouth was apparently cleaner than Dean's._

_Dean gave me that same no-nonsense look as he closed the distance between us. "Look Colleen, we've got to get into this school right now. Either you can give me your keys or I'm breaking down this door…"_

_I didn't understand, and I must have said as much._

_"You don't have to," Sam said softly, but his tone was just as pressing. "Just give us your keys."_

_"…But…"_

_"Colleen! She's got Renee!" Dean snapped._

_None of this was making any sense! She? "Who does?_

_"I'll explain, just give me your keys."_

_Trembling, I handed them over._


	11. Friday, July 13 Part 2

**Day 10 – **_Friday, July 13, 2007_

_**(Part 2)**_

**COLLEEN GRAHAM'S Diary**

_**(continued…)**_

_Dean took my keys, muttered something inappropriate, and promptly tossed them over his shoulder, where Sam caught them one-handed. If I'd have been anywhere near coherent, I might have been impressed with what I was seeing. I mean, they were so… together. Not just friends then. Partners._

_Sam had the door unlocked and opened before I even knew what was going on. He disappeared inside, gun poised in a grip that left me no doubt he had training, and I heard the faint clicks of the alarm code being entered. Dean hadn't taken his eyes off of me but, without my noticing, a gun had also appeared in his hands. And holy crap! I couldn't help backing away from that thing. It wasn't pointed at me; heck, I didn't even know where it came from or where he had stashed it on his person, but it was there and I'm sure my eyes were as big as softballs. Long, double barreled, and mean looking, it was a freaking sawed-off shotgun! So much went through my mind at that point. Things like: _what had I gotten myself into, who were these guys, this is soooo very illegal, _and_ who the heck carries a sawed off shotgun anyway?

_Dean either didn't notice my distress or he just didn't care. There wouldn't be any more go-back-to-the-car talk; instead, he grasped my arm just above the elbow and pulled me behind him with a quick, "Come on. Stay close."_

_The turn of events had my head reeling. The fact that only a little bit ago Dean was practically ordering me to get back in my car and leave notwithstanding, the one-eighty turn they had both taken right before my eyes was downright unnerving. Gone was the bumbling, awkward Dean and Sam I thought I'd busted breaking into the school. This pair was calm, methodical, and seemed to know exactly what they were doing, leaving me asking myself, had they done it on purpose? It was obvious that the two of them had been perfectly capable of getting out of the situation Renee and I had put them in. Heck, I would never have thought they were capable of such… I don't even know what to call it. Like I said, my head was reeling. I blinked up at this new version of Dean and stammered, "But I thought…?"_

"_You're safer where I can see you."_

_I didn't argue, and Dean let go so that he could hold the weapon with both hands. Chicken as I was, though, I took hold of the back of his shirt. He nodded in approval and, like a well-oiled machine, the two men, with me in tow, moved into the foyer and split up to begin searching the rooms. I can honestly say I've never been more terrified in my entire life. There were 8 rooms on the Preschool floor, not counting the bathrooms, and even though Dean and I only searched 4 of them, I kept on thinking someone or, God help me,_ something_, was going to jump out and kill us both every time we switched on a light._

_After what felt like an eternity of searching, but was probably only a few minutes, we came together once more in the foyer. Dean didn't waste time and locked eyes with Sam. He made a motion with his head, first toward me, then toward the stairs._

_I didn't understand, but Sam had, because he moved up beside me and took my arm as gently as Dean had before. Reluctantly, I let go of his shirt, and Dean disappeared down the dark stairway ahead of us. My throat caught and I hesitated when Sam started to pull me. "Try not to worry," he said, "We're not going to let anything happen to you. We actually do this all the time."_

_They did this all the time? Seriously? I was so terrified I had to force myself to follow, and my feet felt like lead as we tiptoed down the stairs. I always talk when I'm scared or anxious or nervous, and Sam seemed to be a little more forthcoming than his partner, so I ventured a question. "Why'd Dean have to go first?"_

_A whisper of a smile touched Sam's lips, as if he knew the real reason behind my question wasn't because I wanted to know, but because the silence was playing merry-hell on my nerves. "He's got the gun."_

"_You've got a gun, too."_

"_Mine's not the right gun."_

"_What's the difference?"_

_We had reached the bottom of the stairs by then. Sam didn't turn, or make a move to follow his partner, but he did answer. "You know what a round is, right? Well, his are filled with salt. Lots of supernatural creatures don't like the stuff, especially spirits. If Nell appears anywhere near us, Dean can use it to ward her off."_

"_What's yours loaded with?"_

"_Silver."_

"_Like… for werewolves?" And geez, I couldn't believe I was asking that._

"_Yeah, but they're not the only things out there that don't like it."_

"_But ghosts… silver won't do any good?"_

"_No."_

"_Then why do you have it?"_

_I couldn't see him, but I could hear his amusement. "In our line of work, it's best to be prepared for anything."_

_I dropped my head. "God, I don't even wanna know."_

_Silver. Salt. It was a pill way too large for me to swallow. Especially the concept that salt was the only thing currently protecting us from a rampant, kidnapping ghost. It was all about as believable as me sneaking around the school in the middle of the night with a man I just met a few days ago, talking about supernatural creatures and ghosts like they actually existed. Even after what I'd seen upstairs, I wasn't sure yet if I believed what Sam was saying, but _something_ had happened to Renee out there. The concept of ghosts and spirits… well, it didn't seem too farfetched at the moment. The world had suddenly gotten a lot bigger, a lot scarier, and I was feeling a whole heck of a lot smaller._

"_What happened to Renee?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know that either, but I asked anyway._

_Sam sighed, probably grimacing. I could tell he had an idea, but that he didn't want to say anything. Probably was afraid he would scare me. After a pause that darn near killed me, he said, "The ghost… Nell… she was the headmaster's wife back when this place was first built in the early 1800s. Records are sketchy, but most people think she killed their newborn son when she caught her husband with another woman. She tried to off her husband, too, but they say he killed her in self-defense, then burned down the schoolhouse before killing himself."_

"_That's… awful," was all I could think to say. And I worked here?_

_A rustle of clothing – Sam shrugging, probably – and he said, "That's how ghosts sometimes get here. Something bad happens to them and, for one reason or another, they never pass on. Sometimes its unfinished business, sometimes its cause they want revenge. Whatever the reason, they eventually get restless and start hurting people."_

"_Killing them?" Something was starting to click in my brain. "Renee… Dean asked if she was pregnant. You think…"_

"_We think the ghost's been targeting pregnant women because she killed her own son to get back at her husband."_

_Dean startled me when he appeared at the end of the hall and signaled us. Sam nodded back at him and together, we entered into the seating area of preschool cafeteria._

"_Before we get any further," Dean said, focusing on me, "This search would go a lot quicker if we had a little insight."_

_I swallowed with difficulty. "How can I help?"_

"_Is there anywhere the ghost might have taken her? Secret rooms, storm shelters, anything like that?"_

"_Ummm… not that I know of."_

"_What about rooms or places that make you feel weird?" Sam cut in. "Places that always smell funny or feel cold. Scratching in the walls, maybe."_

_Now that rang a bell. "Ummm," I put my hand on my forehead and closed my eyes, trying desperately to think clearly. Rooms that felt weird? Were always cold? That sounded a whole lot like the Teacher Resource Room._

_God, I hated the TR Room. It's in the basement at the very back of the school, and it's one of the few rooms that are rarely used here. It's big enough for two classrooms, but Licensing wouldn't let us use it for the plain and simple fact that there were no windows and only one door - meaning there was only one way in, and one way out; no other exits in case of emergency. So Kathie just slapped a KEEP OUT sign on it and called it our supply room. It started out as being just a place for Kathie to store the materials the teachers need and share: curriculum books, construction paper, reading materials, craft supplies, toys, but it soon morphed into being everything from the storage closet to our make-shift library. I think there's even a section where Kathie keeps some of her own personal stuff, rather than pay for storage somewhere offsite. I don't know for a fact, though, because I try to stay out of the TR Room as much as possible. Most of the teachers do, even though Kathie had a table and chairs placed in there to serve as a break area for us. Nobody ever really spends time in there; we just go in, get what we need, and get out - I never really thought about the _why_. It's just always been like that._

"_The TR Room," I said, uncertainly, "It's always freezing in there and… and nobody likes to go in there. It's actually kind of creepy."_

_Sam glanced at his partner and said, "Creepy's a good place to start."_

_It shouldn't have surprised me that they took me seriously. The TR room was locked, but I had my keys. Well, Sam had them anyway. He used the one I showed him. It didn't work._

"_Are you sure this is the right one?"_

"_See the 'TR' on it?" I asked, trying to sound irritated so that I didn't sound scared. Several of my keys look alike, so I write initials on them with permanent marker: TR for Teacher Room, C for Closet, K for Kitchen - you get the picture. I checked to make sure he had the right one, and he did._

_Sam handed them off to Dean, who had just started to jiggle the key in its lock when I heard a noise from behind the door. It sounded like… like someone choking._

_Sam must have heard it too, because he stopped his partner. "Listen," he said._

_I heard it again, this time I was sure it was someone choking. But why…?_

_Cold solidified in my stomach as I remembered what Brendan had told me the police said when they found Jody's body. Not choking… strangled. Jody had been strangled. "Oh God, Renee!" I yelped. "She's in there!"_

_There was a crash from somewhere behind the door, like something soft and heavy hitting a hard or unyielding surface. I had the feeling that 'something' had been Renee's body._

_Dean didn't bother with the keys anymore. He backed up, raising his gun to firing position the same time Sam took his place in front of the door, raising a booted foot and kicking it for all it was worth. It wasn't like the movies, where the door goes flying off its hinges on the first kick. No, this took longer, and as if Sam's vicious kicks weren't loud enough, when it finally crashed open, it wasn't even the door that gave. The frame around the door splintered with a loud CRACK, and the door swung open, slamming into the wall behind it. So much for stealth._

_Dean entered first, throwing over his shoulder a curt, "Colleen, get the lights."_

_I fumbled for them, but of course, the impotent clicks were a dead give-away that those wouldn't be working either._

_The gasping and choking had quieted to a muffled weeping, coming from somewhere on the other side of the room. I wanted to run toward it, to find out if she was okay, but Sam stopped me with an outstretched arm._

_Instead I watched, holding my breath, as Dean followed what I was coming to realize were sounds of pain. God… Renee._

"_Sam!" Dean called, and his voice hadn't been so much a command as it had been a signal. It called to attention, yet again, just how 'together' the two of them were. It was_ I found something _and_ come check this out _and_ I'll cover you _and_ be careful _all rolled into one three-letter word._

_I trailed after Sam, trying my best to stay close without getting in his way._

_Dean was covering a corner where something was moving. "Renee!" I gasped. Because there she was, huddled on the floor, her back pressed against an old bookcase. The case had buckled in on itself, several of the shelves knocked out and the books they had contained scattered on the floor around her._

_She had her arm covering her head, as if hiding her face would keep whatever threatened her away. I watched as she trembled, making small, rasping whimpering noises, until I couldn't stand it any longer. I crossed the distance between us, reaching out for her, but when I did, she panicked. Renee literally cowered away from my touch, cringing and whimpering like a wounded animal. "Leave me alone! Get away from me!" she screamed, and her voice was scraped raw._

_I looked up to see Sam hurriedly kneeling down next to me, big hands trying to keep Renee from hurting herself. He was talking to her in a soothing voice and I shivered; he was right, they had done this before. Despite his calming tone and reassuring words, Renee jerked away from him, too frantic to think clearly and scrambling to get away._

_God, she was so terrified she was hysterical, but in that impossibly small space there was nowhere to go. Sam kept talking and when she finally looked up, her eyes finally focusing on him, I saw the recognition dawn and she lunged at him, arms clamping around him like he was some kind of life preserver._

"_Oh God!" I think she cried, but I couldn't tell because her hysterical ramblings had melted into incoherent cries. She was bleeding from her nose and from a cut on her forehead, and red welts had appeared around her throat, no doubt the beginnings of some nasty bruises._

"_Come on," Sam said, firmly. "Let's get her out of here."_

"_Sam, the Bible," Dean replied. "She's not safe until we find it."_

_To my complete and utter horror, Sam agreed. _

"_Where's it at?" Dean asked._

"_In a display case in the Conference room."_

"_We'll have to hurry."_

_Sam pulled the still-sobbing Renee to her feet and picked her up like she weighed nothing._

"_You've got to be kidding! No!" I demanded, glancing first at Dean, then pointedly back at Renee. I knew the Bible they were talking about, but I didn't see why getting her out of here couldn't come first. "Look at her! Dean, we have to get Renee to a hospital. Forget the Bible."_

_He didn't budge. "This is gonna keep happening unless we find that thing and torch it now."_

"_Fine. Then drop us off at the basement door. I'll take Renee and you guys go get your Bible."_

"_It's not a good idea to split up," he said, trying his best to placate me. "Colleen, we've done the research and we don't know how far this ghost can span. One of the victims was nabbed from her car outside the building, and all of the bodies were found in the river, which is at least a mile from here. And until this ghost is put to rest, it's going to keep coming after her."_

"_I don't understand," I said, when no other argument would come to me, "Why is this Bible so important?"_

"_The ghost," Sam answered, "We think she's tied to it. If we burn it, it'll cut her tie to the school."_

_I wanted to argue, to demand we get Renee out of there and to a hospital, and then put in my two-weeks notice and get as far away from this place as possible. In short - never see the ABC Academy and Learning Center ever again. I wanted that, wanted it so badly I could taste it, but at the same time, I knew if there was a chance to stop this, I couldn't ignore it. I thought of Jody, of the life she would never get to live and the baby she would never get to hold. We were too late to change things, to save her, but if Dean and Sam were right… if they were for real… they could help make sure what happened to Jody never happened to anyone else. _

_They could help make sure it never happened to Renee._

_For Jody. For Renee, I told myself, and followed them._

_The Conference room wasn't a large room, just off the hallway leading to the cafeteria, where the school held all of it's meetings, whether PTO or Teacher In-Service. The back wall was entirely shelves and glass, every trophy, every award, and every plaque the school had ever dedicated or won displayed on the top half. The bottom was where the antiques from every era of the building were kept, including the original schoolhouse. There were dozens of items… an old iron skillet, a tattered, falling apart schoolbook, an even more tattered Bible, a small square of black chalkboard, a cracked, white-faced doll, and other more useful items, like a bucket and ladle._

"_There it is," I heard Dean say._

_What happened next… I don't know if I can explain it._

_Dean was still moving, had just zeroed in on the old Bible, when everything happened at once. I mean… I saw and heard everything because it was like time slowed down. The temperature dropped, and I saw my breath puff out visibly in front of my face. Dean had to have sensed it too because he abruptly froze, jerking his head up and around to find it's source. His eyes fell on Renee, still clutching to Sam, then on me, before darting to just over my shoulder. _

_My stomach bottomed out. There was something behind me, I could read it in his widening eyes._

_I heard Sam's curse, Renee's gasp. I felt my blood go cold when a cool wind brushed against my back, lifting the ends of my hair. Dean had raised one arm up, hand extended toward me, his mouth forming a panicked cry of, "Look out!"_

_Time chose that moment to speed back up again as, without warning, something crashed into me from behind. It hurt; physical pressure slamming into me like a linebacker tackling a quarterback. I stumbled forward, gasping for breath, because I was suddenly aware that I was not alone inside my own skin._

_I wasn't sure how I knew, but _she_ was there, inside me. And she was_ pushing_._

_She wanted control. She was begging me for it._

_I panicked and… well, I started pushing back. It sounds crazy, I know, but it was like my instincts took over and before I knew what I was doing or what was going on, I found myself trying with everything I had in me to shove the… the presence away. And the whole time I was thinking, No-no-no-no, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, because seriously, it couldn't have been happening. Up until today there were no such things as spooks or ghosts or haunted schools or spirits out to try to kill people._

_But… God, it was happening. It was really freaking happening. I could feel her inside of me. She was pushing and I was pushing and the pressure was so intense that I couldn't breathe. The weirdest part was that I could almost hear her voice in my head. She didn't want to hurt me; she was practically pleading with me to forgive her, but she was desperate as she clawed her way into me. What was probably only a few seconds felt like a lifetime, and just when I thought I'd suffocate from that awful pressure, because there was no way in hell there was enough room inside my skin for the two of us, it stopped. Whatever she was looking for, whatever was in me that would allow this to happen, she found it._

_Without meaning to, I let her in. She literally… I dunno… melted into me. And it wasn't so much being pushed out of the drivers seat as it was… well, a joining._

_Foreign emotions flooded into me, blending with my own, melding everything together. I was still afraid; the fear was still there, still prominent and forefront in my mind, but it wasn't for the same reason anymore. There was determination, too. Determination and an almost frenetic need to protect._

_I knew her, knew her because I was her. I knew her thoughts, her feelings, because they were my thoughts, my feelings. And in those first few seconds, when she was me and I was her, I saw brief flashes of her life, now my life, and understood why we were here:_

_She… we… we were so happy when we were married. We had been given to a good man, a hard-working man. Many of our friends had been promised to old men, or men not as well off as a Spotsgood. He was a headmaster, had dedicated his life to children. We loved children. Things were perfect, William was perfect, until he picked up the drink._

_We hid; hid because he was not himself when it took him over. He would do awful things if we got in his way, and we could do nothing, tell no one, because that wasn't what a good wife did. It was simply the way things were._

_A good wife was quiet, a good wife took care of her home, and she never shamed her family. The schoolhouse, William's work, it was important; a good wife would not endanger that. We read our Bible always; the Good Lord, He would comfort us._

_We thought He had answered our prayers when we found we were with child. We thought William would stop. But William did not stop, and William really did not like it when the baby cried. It was too noisy, it hurt his head._

_So he picked up the drink. He picked up the drink and we would hide._

_But our baby wouldn't stop crying. He wouldn't stop crying and I just had to stop him from crying or his father would find us and possibly do something horrible. We didn't know what else to do: we covered his mouth. And when the crying had stopped we realized what we had done…_

_We shook our head, determined to make things right. "Get out of here," we said, and the small part that was still just me recognized that the voice was mine, but the words weren't. They came out hollow, and felt strange, like a voice that hadn't been used in a while._

_Everyone was frozen, staring. The tallest one took a wary step toward me… toward us… the hand not holding onto the girl raised up as if to show he meant no harm. He knew… we could see it in his eyes. We didn't know what he saw, or how exactly he knew what had happened, but he was looking at us as if we were the threat._

_He didn't understand!_

_It made us angry. Angry at our helplessness, angry that we had tried to protect the one we loved and had failed; angry because no matter how hard we tried, _he_ always got there first. And now someone else was going to be taken and there was no more time. "Listen to me!" we shrieked._

_The tallest one opened his mouth and said a name. It was the same name we hadn't recognized before, when he'd been telling us about salt in the hallway, but now we knew it. We knew it because it was our name._

"_Nell?" he said again. "Listen. We don't want any trouble. Just let her go. Let us out. We'll leave quietly. Nobody has to get hurt."_

_They didn't know. They didn't understand. Nobody ever understood! We wanted to scream._

_So we did._

"_Get out!" we bellowed. "You've got to get out! He's coming for her!"_

_But I… we… we were too late. Our scream died in the sudden roar of wind that broke glass and sent papers streaming everywhere. He was here… he was here and we were too late._

_We lunged for the girl, getting our arms around her just as the tall one screamed, "Now, Dean!"_

_And then we were screaming. It felt as if something was ripped from our body, and we convulsed. The girl… Renee… Renee had been beneath us and she started screaming, too, scrambling to get away as we split in half._

_And just like that, Nell was gone. I was alone in my own skin again, and there was a burn mark on the floor not two feet away from me._

_I was confused, and I didn't understand what had happened, and the next thing I knew Sam was picking me up and I was crying._

"_It's all right," he was saying. "It's all right. It's over now. You're all right."_

_But I knew it wasn't. My… her memories… they were branded into me. "No!" I told him shakily. "No, it's not. It wasn't her!"_

_Dean came up behind us, favoring his hand. It was red and the smell of singed hair was coming off of him. He must have been holding the book when it exploded into flames and Nell… Nell was gone._

_And with Nell gone, I had the sinking feeling that her protection was gone too._


	12. Saturday, July 14

**Day 11 – **_Saturday July 14, 2007_

* * *

><p><strong>NEWSPAPER ARTICLE<strong>

_The Little Rock Capital Journal_

NEWS

FIRE DESTROYS DAYCARE IN NORBOROUGH CT.

By Betty Herpin

Published: July 14, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, AR – The ABC Academy and Learning Center was completely destroyed early Friday morning. Crews from Fire District 1 and Arkansas' capital city spent several hours fighting a blaze at the Preschool-Childcare facility at 6709 SE Norborough Ct. According to Fire District 1 Spokesperson Dominick Hughes, neighbors started calling 911 about 1:15 in the morning reporting flames shooting from the building. Authorities arrived in time to aide in the rescue of two of the center's employees, whose names have not been released. It is believed the victims were abducted from a local restaurant and taken hostage to scene, where they were forced to enter the codes to the center's alarm system. Discarding the victims, the kidnappers then raided the facility and ruptured the natural gas lines, which then fed the flames and delayed efforts to extinguish the fire, as well as allowing the suspects to escape. A crew is still on the scene putting out hot spots. Investigators will spend today trying to pin down suspects.

* * *

><p><strong>JOURNAL ENTRY by RENEE JORDAN<strong>

_**(St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, Little Rock, AR)**_

7/14/07

_I've never been much of a writer. I mean, ma bought me a journal when I was a kid, and I used it for a little while. Mostly I wrote about my latest crush or what happened on my favorite TV show, but it was just a phase and I stopped writing in it after Jen found it and decided to try to blackmail me with it._

_But, I'm willing to try anything at this point. I feel like I'm going to implode. I've learned more in the past 24 hours than I've ever cared to know and so much has happened. I can't even talk to anyone about it because no one would believe me even if I did. It's like having a nightmare. I wish it were a nightmare. It would make things so much easier if I could just pass this off as some really horrific dream and when I wake up I can just pull the covers up over my head and go back to sleep like nothing happened. But dreams and nightmares don't leave you with multi-colored bruises on your throat and a difficulty just swallowing. God, I'm sick of soup and Jell-O, already!_

_That's enough right there to remind me that it really happened, that it wasn't all in my head. I suppose there's always the shrink option, but I'm pretty sure all I'd get for my trouble is a pretty white jacket and a nice padded room when I sat there in front of them and announced ghosts are real and one of them tried to kill me._

_Ghosts. Even the word has a different meaning to me now. Jen and I used to sneak out of our beds and watch Twilight Zone after mom and dad went upstairs, but even as a child I knew that ghosts and monsters and such weren't real. So coping with the fact that everything I've ever been taught to be true is now worthless…_

_Colleen says writing helps her. I can tell she's really worried about me. She's got a husband and a son to go home to; to go back to normal for. Me? I've got my cat._

_I've been thinking about going home after this. The "what-if" part of me keeps screaming that this would never have happened if I had just stayed home. But I know that even though it never would have happened to me, it would have just happened to somebody else. And moving back home is tempting, but I have to admit, it's nice knowing that at least one other person in the world knows that I'm not crazy. Colleen and I both have issues we're going to have to work through, mine being almost murdered and hers being possessed – freaking possessed! - but at least we have each other. So I guess I shouldn't say that I don't have anybody to talk to._

_Anyway, Colleen sat with me for most of the morning and told me her side. I thought it would help, knowing what had happened from someone who had been more informed than I at the time. Unfortunately, it only served to make me that much more confused. She brought me this journal, and a copy of the newspaper article about the fire, so I figure I'll give it a shot. Maybe actually writing it down will help me piece my scattered thoughts together. So here it goes…_

_Colleen said I just disappeared from outside the school. Like one minute I was there, the next I wasn't._

_But it didn't feel like a disappearance. It felt like a mugging. I've been mugged before, you know. Back home, I was walking from Skips to my apartment when the guy clocked me in the back of the head before snatching my purse and running off. I don't know how long I was out when it happened, but when I came to there was this group of people around me and I couldn't see any of their faces because my vision was still blurry. _

_This felt like that. One minute I was there, standing next to Colleen, confronting Sam and Dean, and the next I was on the ground, my head pounding and blinking blurrily from watering eyes. My brain's immediate explanation was that Sam and Dean were about to rob the school and when they realized they were busted, one of them had hit me in the head. I quickly looked around for Colleen. If they hadn't hurt her, we could make a run for it and call the police. _

_Realizing I wasn't in front of the school anymore was the first shock. The second was finding this strange guy standing over me, just staring down at me. He was pale, and his eyes were round and bright, like a cat's when a light is shone on them. But his clothes were the biggest give-away. They just weren't right. They were simple and old, like something out of time. One of those Amish people, or maybe just a really good Halloween costume. _

_The weird getup brought back all those ridiculous horror movies I've ever seen because, really, if the dude from Scary Movie could murder people while wearing a smiley mask with it's tongue hanging out, who says a real psycho wouldn't dress like something out of a history book. _

_The weirdest thing, however, was that even though he was standing there - standing right over me - I swear I could see right through him. And when he bent even closer to me, I swear his image flickered, like one of those old silent films, or like he was some kind of hologram. _

_He looked real enough, felt real enough too when he grabbed me around the throat with one massive hand and lifted me off the floor and – I kid you not – into the air. My vision went from blurry to black in seconds, he was that strong. I was gasping and choking, even hitting and kicking. And there was pain. A lot of it. I couldn't get air and I panicked and it felt like every vein in my forehead would pop from the strain. The sick bastard had his free hand on my stomach, too, like he was trying to feel the baby. _

_I really panicked then. I'm ashamed to admit, I hadn't thought about the baby until that very moment. I'm not that far along and still just getting used to the idea that there's even anything there. It made me feel like a bad person that I'd thought only of myself first, but that quickly passed because now that it was forefront in my mind, I was absolutely terrified that all of this violence and struggle would endanger my pregnancy and possibly kill my baby._

_And then I realized that was the whole point. That's why I had been brought here and nobody else. Hadn't I just read that article about the pregnant teacher? The police found her body in the Arkansas River just a mile from here._

_There was no way it could be a coincidence, not when my psycho attacker seemed so keenly interested in my belly. He wasn't alone, either. I couldn't see her, but I could hear another voice in the room. And strange as it sounds, I thought she might be telling him to stop. No, not telling. Begging._

_She must have surprised him, or maybe her interference just really ticked him off. Regardless, the bruising grip around my neck loosened and he threw me – freaking _threw_ me! - across the room. My body was so consumed with taking in air that I barely felt the jolt of hitting a bookshelf. It knocked the wind out of me, though, because I sat there, crying and gasping, until the feeling of prying hands got me moving again._

_I swear the woman had joined my attacker and now they were both trying to get to me and hurt my baby. I heard words, what I can only now identify as soft sounds of reassurance, but at the time I was too far-gone to listen. I just wanted to get away from those hands, to keep them from hurting us. Then the fog cleared and when I looked up, my attacker and his female accomplice had transformed into Sam and Colleen._

_I was so relieved to not be alone anymore that I starting balling. Hysterically balling, like words were coming out of my mouth and I had no idea what I was saying. Sam took my weight and they both got me on my feet, but all the while they were arguing. _

_I heard everything but, I don't know, maybe I was in shock, because I sure as hell didn't understand any of it. All I knew was that I could barely stand and Colleen wanted to get out but Dean and Sam wanted to stay and for the love of God, why did they want to stay? That brought on a whole new wave of hysteria. I think I collapsed because the next thing I knew Sam was carrying me out of the TR room. _

_This next part is…fuzzy. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. Like a giant puzzle that I've only got a few of the pieces to. I remember Sam putting me down and maneuvering himself so that he stood between Colleen and I. Then wind and breaking glass, and Colleen lunging for me. There's fire somewhere in there. And silence. And Colleen insisting, "No! No, it's not. It wasn't her!"_

_I fought to clear my head and understand what was happening around me._

"_What do you mean, it wasn't her?"_

"_She… she was in my head, Dean… All those women… she'd tried to protect them! She was trying to protect Renee."_

_It didn't make sense, of course; nothing made sense. My whole freaking world had gone crazy and I just wanted it all to be over. _

"_Can you walk?" Sam asked me, hand closing around my wrist, and I didn't fight when he pulled me out of the Conference room. My own hand, the one that wasn't being used as a leash, I put to my stomach. I might not be far enough along yet to be showing, but even the idea of anything hurting my baby horrified me beyond reason and gave my legs strength to keep up._

_Sam and Dean argued as we ran, and for the life of me I couldn't make sense of any of it. Something about how they'd been wrong and that somebody named Spotsgood had died in a fire so there were no remains to burn._

_We reached the basement door, but no amount of pushing, shoving, or kicking would open it. It was sealed shut. I had to be close to hyperventilation at this point; especially after realizing we were well and truly trapped._

_Wind that had no right to be inside the room picked up and from somewhere in the darkness I heard a deep, wordless whisper. It was creepy as hell, and I froze. I had no idea what it was or where it came from, but it coiled along my every nerve and made goose bumps spring up my back and arms and neck._

_The darkness in the room seemed to move, to coalesce into a solid figure, one that Dean immediately fired a shot at. The fact that they had guns hadn't escaped my attention, but the way that thing dissipated into gnarled curls of black smoke had me demanding instead, "What was that?"_

_Sam didn't answer. He didn't have to. The report was still ringing painfully in my ears, chasing my heartbeat, and from that silence I pulled more truth than an hour's worth of conversation. _

"_Dean, we've gotta get these girls outta here," Sam said._

"_I'm open to ideas," Dean shot back, eyes never wavering from scanning the darkness around us._

_It was Colleen who answered. She was still shaking. "You… you said you needed to know what he's tied to?"_

_I didn't understand what that meant, but Sam glanced at her sharply. "Do you know what it is?"_

_She opened her mouth to answer, but all the while we talked the darkness had been reforming; wriggling and fusing together to take shape into the solid mass of something vaguely human-shaped. I didn't have time to shout a warning before Dean was thrown off his feet and sent careening across the room. Only then did my psycho killer dive at me._

_I screamed, and screaming hurt, because those same hands were around my neck again, both of them this time, cutting off my air and trying to kill me for the second time that night. The pressure on my neck had me convinced it would snap off at any moment. Another shot rang out, this one closer, point blank range. I didn't get the full effect like my attacker did; the shot had come from the side, but I got a small dose of whatever was in the gun. It felt like tiny rocks, too small to do any actual damage but delivered so hard and so fast that it actually drew blood in some places. I dropped to the floor in a heap._

_Sam appeared, Dean's gun in his hand, and God, who were these guys?_

"_You all right?" he asked me, but my throat was throbbing and I couldn't have used my voice to answer even if I wanted to. The skin on my neck burned, and I swear I could feel my trachea swelling several sizes._

_At least I was breathing. It was possible everyone within a block's radius could now hear my strained attempts to pull in oxygen. The effort it took was dizzying and I think I checked out for a few minutes because I was abruptly hauled to my feet and Colleen was in front of me, lifting my head in an attempt to make breathing easier and telling me to relax and that I was okay._

"_Now would be a good time to say what you were gonna say, Colleen," Dean said, urgently._

_Colleen swallowed, looking as though she were struggling to come up with the to right words. "It's just… Nell… When she was there in my in head… it's hard to explain but, I got a peek into her thoughts. It's this place. He's here because of this place."_

"_The building?"_

"_His work. The schoolhouse… it meant everything to him. He put it before everything. His life, his family… so…"_

"_So as long as there's a school here, Spotsgood will always be here," Sam finished for her. "That would explain a lot; why this place has been torched more than once."_

"_You think hunters have been here before?"_

"_That's exactly what I think. Only the last fire hadn't been big and bad enough to destroy everything."_

"_Damn," Dean said. "This is gonna be messy. You thinking what I'm thinking?"_

_Sam nodded. "Gas lines. It's the only way this place will get taken down completely."_

_I've never heard Colleen curse, so she surprised me with some very colorful vocabulary._

_And that's it. I passed out in Sam's arms and when I woke up, the school was an inferno. Sam and Dean were gone, but they hadn't left before helping Colleen concoct a story that would be believable. We were kidnapped from the parking lot of El Mezcal and forced to help these two faceless delinquents break into the school. Part of the story was that I'd tried fighting them, and that's where the bruises on my neck came from. That was why we'd gone willingly along with them, because we were afraid for our lives._

_It wasn't a hard sell. I'm sure both of us looked pretty traumatized and scared when the authorities showed up. The police took one look at my neck and nobody questioned the honesty of our account. They put me in an ambulance almost immediately, and I felt bad for leaving Colleen to deal with all the questions._

_So here I am, sitting in my hospital bed. I've got a sore back, a sprained wrist, a wide and colorful assortment of bumps and bruises, and a shiny new label: "victim of attempted manual strangulation." But dang it, I'm alive - still here, still breathing, and there were no detrimental effects to my pregnancy. End story: the baby and I are both going to be fine. So I should be happy, right?_

_Don't get me wrong - I'm overjoyed and thanking God that I'm alive. But still, I can't help being a little sad._

_I owe Sam and Dean so much. I owe them my life, my baby's life. Both of us have a future now. My baby can grow up, can go to school, can get married someday and have babies of his or her own. And Colleen gets to go home; she gets to hold her little boy and kiss her husband. We both owe them so much. It hurts that I'll never be able to thank them myself. Or tell them goodbye. They just… disappeared. After saving us both from a psycho, killing ghost and pulling us from a burning building, they made sure we were all right and then got in their car and left._

_I guess I understand why. Colleen and I couldn't have come with them. I needed a doctor and if they had tried to admit me into another hospital, even one outside of Little Rock, someone somewhere would have heard about the fire at the Center and put 2-and-2 together. It was easier and safer for us this way, leaving us so that help would come to us. And they couldn't stay because – well, because they were the ones who started the fire and if they got caught and arrested, they wouldn't be able to help the other people out there who need them._

_Who would have ever guessed that there were people in the world like them? When I think of heroes, I think of people like fire fighters and police officers and soldiers. Men and women who put their lives on the line day after day, and people know them and see them for what they are. They get recognition for their heroics - thank yous and medals and such. But what about people like Sam and Dean? People who put their lives on the line in secret? Save people, and no one but the people they save ever know about it? It seems like an incredibly sad and lonely existence to me. _

_I wonder how many people in the world are like them: swoop in, save the day, and then disappear into night? Wow, kinda poetic, huh? At least I know they're out there. In one night I learned that the things that go bump in the night are not only real, but that they're out to get you, too. That's hard enough to cope with without the knowledge that there are people, like Sam and Dean, out there who fight them. Hunters, they call themselves._

_Also makes me wonder, if ghosts are real, what else out there is real? Vampires? Werewolves? Is that even possible?_

_And this ghost – the one who protected me, how many expectant mothers had she tried to save over the years and failed? Colleen told me about her experience, told me that Nell had killed her own child trying to save him from his abusive father. That was why her ghost hadn't crossed over. She'd spent countless years trying to make right what she had accidentally done wrong. She'd been afraid Heaven wouldn't take her – not with the death of her only son on her hands. God, to fight with her husband not only in life, but also after death? That was penance enough, and I pray even now that Heaven takes her. She deserves it. In the end, she did save me. She distracted her husband long enough for Sam and Dean to get to me, and for that, I'll always be thankful._

_I should probably call ma soon. She's probably going out of her mind. I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the car right now heading this way. All things considered, I can't wait to see her. _

_Just another reminder that I have so much to be thankful for._


End file.
